While my husband was stationed at Lackland AFB, we had the opportunity to go down to the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station twice. We went out to the U.S.S. Lexington both times for some very memorable experiences.
During the second trip, we spent a considerable time at the Pearl Harbor display. I found it hard to tear myself away from the 3D map showing the positions of the ships in the harbor. The ships looked so tiny on the model, but I knew from the information surrounding me that hundreds of men crewed each one of them. The audio that they were looping overhead was terrifying. In this age of Hollywood explosions, it’s easy to get desensitized to the horror of the ear-splitting noises that accompany destruction.
I had a reason besides being an Air Force wife to go out of my way to visit the Pearl Harbor exhibit. Several of my great uncles served at the end of World War II. They don’t talk about it very often, despite the fact that the end is near for all of them. Even so, I know my great uncle Roy flew a record number of missions over the South Pacific as a B-24 crewmember.
What a lot of people don’t understand in this relatively safe era is the miracle that my great uncle is still alive. Training accidents, equipment malfunctions, and enemy fire meant that a good portion of World War II pilots never made it home. On the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, only eight United States Army Air Corps pilots managed to get airborne, but six of those eight pilots were able to down Japanese aircraft.
We were caught flat-footed, but the fury of our response made the Japanese cut their losses and run. Most of the Japanese casualties were in the second wave of attacks as Americans refused to give up and fought back with everything they had, even throwing rocks at Japanese planes. We made sure the Japanese paid dearly for that blood-soaked morning with the Doolittle Raid.
Seventy years later, how can we possibly repay those who gave their lives that day? Most of the people who managed to live through the hell of that morning are now gone. It’s not a federal holiday, so few people remember it beyond the phrase “a date which will live in infamy.” One way which we can honor those who gave everything they had to protect us is to follow through on the commitment we made after another surprise attack, 9/11/01: Never Again. Eternal viligance is the key to protecting American freedom.
If you know a vet, show your gratitude to them today. If you aren’t fortunate enough to know someone who has lain their life on the line for your freedom, find a troop-support group and do what you can to help support them. And, as always, remember those on the front lines with your thoughts and prayers.
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