Infamy

Sixty-nine years ago today it was a Sunday Morning; like any other morning, but it was not to be for long. At 7:53 A.M. the Japanese Imperial Military machine launched a dastardly surprise attack against U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. TV was still several years away but the visual horror of Pearl Harbor and the terrible losses that followed were pouring in  across the air waves and all who listened had what was happening burned into their mind. Pilots were shot down never to be found , ships were sinking and some never made it out. Some would come back paraplegics while others would return home with minds filled with the horror which they experienced. Many young men gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today. I had the joy of sitting down and talking with a Pearl Harbor survivor a few weeks ago; I enjoyed listening to him. It was hard for him to talk about it, for it brought back a lot of bad memories. He told me he had just finished eating breakfast when the bombing started. He told me that they were in the Harbor docked as he raced to his position they were trying to get the ship out in the Harbor. He told me it was an awful sight to behold. On this day alone more than 2,400 men, women and children would die.  President Roosevelt in the Presidential Address to Congress of December 8, 1941 made this statement "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — Merriam-Webster tell us the word “infamy” means an extreme and publicly known criminal or evil act. It matters not where you are today I want you to take a moment and be thankful as well as proud to be an American and remember Freedom is not Free!