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We seem to be sorely lacking on both counts - military preparedness and presidential purpose and strength - and may have to pay too high a price for our weakness.U.S. This is also a time that calls for strong, incisive leadership in the presidency. Abandoning our friends in Afghanistan and sending mixed signals to Israel regarding our response to Iran’s nuclear threat is like pursuing non-intervention policies in response to Hitler’s aggression against England and other friendly nations. Reducing our military’s war fighting effectiveness and turning it into a giant social experiment is lining up our battleships in a row. This is certainly no time for our military to go wobbly and woke. The same is true regarding Iran, whose nearly completed development of nuclear weapons will enable them to carry out their threats to obliterate the state of Israel and perhaps, ultimately, attack the U.S. It is likely that on some future yet-to-be-determined day, World War III will begin and similar warnings will be quoted regarding the current expansionist activities of China’s Communist Party (CCP) and their threats to freedom-loving nations of the world. Other warnings of an impending attack were recorded by various sources, but adequate, proper precautions were not taken and the deadly attack ensued. One of the clearest records of the then soon-to-come outbreak of war with Japan is found in the book "They Call It Pacific: An Eye-Witness Story of our War Against Japan" by an AP correspondent, Clark Lee, who passed on warnings from his post in occupied Shanghai, warnings received directly from officers of the Japanese Imperial Army. had stopped the sale of those critical war-making materials and enforced an embargo in an attempt to get Japan to stand down from their expansionism in that part of the world. Japan had been wreaking havoc in China since 1937, and their military was dependent on imported oil and other raw material. and Japan had been rattling sabers for some time. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.ĭespite the insult and injury, the attack was not without some warning. Sadly, some certainly won’t be here to remember the attack and celebrate their consequent conquests next December.
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Japan, with only 55 airmen and sailors killed in the attack, lost 1.7 million sailors, soldiers and airmen in the next almost four years of war according to the “Pacific War Online Encyclopedia.” American losses in the Pacific were 116,000 killed and 253,142 wounded.įor The Greatest Generation, drastically reduced in numbers in the 80 years since that Day of Infamy, this may be one of their last hurrahs. “Remember Pearl Harbor” became the memorable call to arms the birthing cry of The Greatest Generation. And the warriors of that aroused-to-arms generation more than adequately avenged the carnage of December 7, 1941. Another 1,100 were wounded, some to die of their wounds at a later date, especially those pulled out of the burning oil in the harbor. Added to this were 68 civilians, making the total number of dead 2,403. A total of 2,335 Navy, Army and Marine military personnel were killed. Several heavy cruisers, destroyers and other ships were damaged, along with 188 aircraft destroyed and 159 damaged. The carnage at our huge Pacific port was horrific. Four battleships, the penultimate in naval power at that time, were sunk and four others significantly damaged. Senate - with a radio audience of 81 percent of the nation - President Franklin Roosevelt delivered his impressive, impassioned “Day of Infamy” speech, asked for and received a declaration of war against the Empire of Japan in response to their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. “Yesterday, Decema date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan,” began one of the most recognized speeches of the last century.