{"id":56870,"date":"2014-12-07T12:48:06","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T17:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=56870"},"modified":"2014-12-07T13:01:33","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T18:01:33","slug":"a-date-which-will-live-in-infamy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=56870","title":{"rendered":"“A Date Which Will Live In Infamy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventy-three years ago at the time of this article’s publication – 1248 UCT-5, AKA Eastern Standard Time; or 0748 UTC-10, AKA Hawaii-Aleutian Time – the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began. That attack (along with Germany and Italy’s declaration of war on the USA four days later) led to the USA’s formal entry into World War II.<\/p>\n

In human terms, the cost of the attack was substantial, but perhaps lower than you might first think. A total of 2,535 individuals (2,403 US military, 68 civilians, and 64 Japanese military) were killed during the attack. Wounded totaled 1,218 – 1,178 US military and 35 civilians. One Japanese sailor – ENS Kazuo Sakamaki<\/a> – was taken POW.<\/p>\n

As Jonn’s article earlier today indicated<\/a>, however, the physical and psychological effects of the attack were massive. The Navy’s Pacific Fleet was severely damaged; only great good luck (all US Pacific carriers were at sea or otherwise away from Pearl on 7 December, and the Japanese inexplicably chose not to target the oil storage facilities at Pearl – plus the incredibly one-sided engagement at Midway six months later) allowed us to contest the Pacific during the first year or so of the war.<\/p>\n

The psychological effect of the attack was perhaps even greater. Yamamoto was correct in fearing that the attack on Pearl “awakened a great, sleeping giant”. The “terrible resolve” part of his observation was likewise true – and was manifested in the massive destruction inflicted on the Japanese homeland and civilian fleet during the latter parts of the war.<\/p>\n

The passage of time and subsequent events have healed most wounds from that day. Rather than enemies, the US and Japan are today firm allies. Time has also claimed the majority of those who fought at Pearl Harbor on both sides. It has dulled both societies’ memories of that day as well.<\/p>\n

Still: as you go about your activities this Sunday, perhaps find time to pause. Take time to remember another Sunday exactly 73 years ago today. If you’re so inclined, say a prayer for those lost that day.<\/p>\n

And while you’re at it, maybe add a second prayer – that we never again see such an event.\u00a0 Twice has been two times too often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seventy-three years ago at the time of this article’s publication – 1248 UCT-5, AKA Eastern Standard … “A Date Which Will Live In Infamy”<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":623,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical","category-we-remember"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/623"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}