Remembering Pearl Harbor

A day that will live in infamy. That was what President Franklin Roosevelt said that Sunday when the world seemed to collapse all around us. I wasn't born then, and my father was only a little boy at the time...yet memories of that long ago day often resurface especially today. Some compare what happened September 11, 2001 to that day, but I feel that there is no comparison. Those of us who actually visited the site where the ships went down know what I mean. Those that visited the World Trade Center site also know. Comparing the two tragedies is wrong.

Instead, now that we know a lot more about what happened both at Pearl Harbor and in New York that horrible day, we can see the differences very clearly. Yes, people did rally around the flag both times, but unfortunately the glaring difference is that we had no real enemy to focus on when the attacks on 9/11 happened. We did in 1941. We had Japan. What happened next made us stronger and weaker at the same time. Stronger because we went to the aid of those who needed us, and weaker because we punished those we shouldn't have because of their nationality.

I was stationed at Hickam back in the 1980s and heard the stories of the Japanese air raid which shot up the barracks. The bullet holes were still there when I was stationed there, but am not sure if that holds for today. I thought a lot about what I heard as I walked the old flight line on my way to work at night. I imagined I heard the ghosts of the people who died that horrible day. I know what they would say, at least I think I know. "I expected to die for my country. I took an oath to defend her and I did." The poor souls of 9/11 were all civilians, and I'm sure wouldn't have said that. We can remember both, but we should also remember that those servicemen didn't die in vain. Unfortunately we can't say the same for the people who died September 11, 2001 as much as we would like to believe that.