The attack on Pearl Harbor happened 4 years before I was born. Mary Lynn and I visited the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in 1968. That was 27 years after the attack, and it was 41 years ago that we visited. At the time we visited the site, I thought it had happened sooo long ago, but it doesn't seem very long ago that I visited the site. Hmmm. Time is funny. I think we look at things as happening a long time ago if it happened before we were born.
Still, on this day I always think about the soldiers and sailors that were in the service at that time. Every one of them knew that they would stay in the service until the War was over and having no idea how long that would be. I know I spent 4 years in the Navy and, at the time, it seemed awfully long. I imagine the people who had joined for a 4 year hitch, planning for it to be up in several months, and all of a sudden they've had their tour of duty extended for duration of the war. And, spending 8 or 9 years in the military, for a young man of 17 or 18, had to feel like a lifetime.
Anyway, I don't know how many Americans even stop to thing about what happened on this day 68 years ago, but I always do.
1 comment:
Good blog post, Dad.
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