Another December 7th has come around. This is one of the every few years when it falls on a Sunday. I have recently woken up and am getting ready to go to church. Seventy-three years ago, 10 years before I was born, many soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen were doing the same thing on Pearl Harbor. Families were putting their Sunday dinner into the oven so that it would be waiting for them when they returned. Despite the talk of war, it was a peaceful day. Many would even have yet been sleeping because it was Sunday, and not quite 8:00 am.
Pearl Harbor was bombed that day and the USA declared war the following day. It took until 11 September 2001 for the USA to suffer as stunning an attack. And, even then, though the attack killed those in the twin towers, and many around them, it did not have the sheer destructiveness of the Pearl Harbor attack, and the sheer damage to our military infrastructure. In Pearl Harbor, the USA faced the imminent threat of invasion. Within a few days of the attack, what was then our Commonwealth of the Philippines was invaded and taken from us.
It is another calm and peaceful Sunday today. But, I cannot help but remember the brave men and women of those times. They faced the destruction of our country in a way that we do not. Even at their worst, Islamic terrorists cannot hope to destroy this nation, but the Empire of Japan dared to think that it could. Had the Battle of Midway, or a couple of European battles gone just wrong, the USA could very well have been left isolated on its own continent, economically weak, and awaiting invasion by the Axis powers.
Instead here I am. It is a calm and peaceful Sunday. I am thinking of nothing more than a nice hot shower and getting ready for church. But, I am thankful for the men and women of that time. They made my peaceful Sunday possible.
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