A Date Which Will Live In Infamy

[lady-lirenel.livejournal.com]

I wrote this today in my own journal, but I thought it would be fitting to cross-post it here.

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66 years ago today Japan attacked American Forces at Pearl Harbor. It was premeditated, swift, and vicious. In total, the Japanese sunk 21 ships of the US Pacific Fleet. 2,403 Americans were killed, 68 of them civilians. Many of them were trapped in sunken battleships such as the USS Arizona which remains under the waves of the Harbor even today.

Now the question is: How many people remembered all that today?

To how many people was this day just like any other day? How many people colleges around the country thought this was just the last day of classes for the semester? How many Americans remembered what happened on December 7th, 1941?

It was a day that horrified the American people and fueled their ire to enter into the Greatest War of the 20th century. It was the day that spelled the beginning of the end not only of the Japanese Empire that woke a sleeping giant, but also the end of the horrors of Nazi Germany. It was the day which was supposed to live in infamy.

Who remembered it today?

Did anyone take the time to remember and honor the men who died that day, or was today just another shopping day before Christmas? It is a tragedy that we allow ourselves to forget the sacrifices made by our forefathers.