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LOS ANGELES, December 7, 2011--Seventy years ago today was the day that will forever "live in infamy." On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
When Americans of all stripes see veterans, the initial reaction is to appropriately tell them "thank you, and welcome home." Yet with World War II veterans, the passion is even greater. They are overwhelmingly regarded as heroes.
The World War II generation is the "Greatest Generation." American soldiers defeated Nazism and Fascism. They saved the world.
Yet Winston Churchill was right when he said that "Americans can be counted on to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other options." After World War I, a war-weary American public wanted to retreat into isolationism. The rest of the world had other ideas.
Once Pearl Harbor was bombed, the entire world changed. America quickly went to war, and they did so with unrelenting force. The only acceptable outcome was total and complete victory.
Americans were united. Politics stopped at the water's edge. Republicans lined up and supported Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Four years later Republicans loyally supported Democratic President Harry S. Truman when he made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. War is hell, but his decision quickly ended the war and prevented many more deaths.
Today Americans are free because seven decades ago, our political leaders decided that saving civilization was more important than playing politics.
People back then believed in and trusted their government. Wealthy men like George Herbert Walker Bush and John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave up their comfortable lifestyles and voluntarily served their country. Mr. Bush was shot out of the sky and rescued. Mr. Kennedy helped save some men after their ship sunk. Other men from working class neighborhoods like Bob Dole would be severely wounded in combat defending America. Medical professionals like Dr. Hampar Kelikian saved many lives.
Everybody pitched in. Rosie the Riveter was emblematic of women everywhere who left their kitchens and entered the workforce as their husbands went to war.
The average age of World War II veterans today is 89 years of age. They are dying at an exponential rate. Yet like most heroes, they do not even brag about their war experiences. They wear their baseball caps, but they let their deeds do the talking. Their pride in being war heroes is often eclipsed by their real pride--being husbands, fathers, and American citizens in the greatest nation on Earth.
Americans do not want war. We hate war. War is hell. Yet sometimes war truly is the only solution. There are plenty of days to argue about other wars, but today is a day to understand what America dealt with seven decades ago.
Our very existence as free Americans was threatened. Americans responded to the challenge. Through grit, determination, sweat, tears, and the tragic shedding of blood, America stayed free. In what would be typical American compassion, we took our former enemies, offered them friendship and help rebuilding, and saw a democracy flourish in Japan.
So on this seventieth anniversary of that horrible day, let us realize that the American response was noble, just, and proper. The American people showed their character, and to this day that character remains good.
To the remaining World War II veterans, thank you and welcome home. Thank you for saving the world and preserving the American way of life.
http://communities.washingtontimes.c...70-day-infamy/
More Pearl Harbor related information and photos.
http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...-harbor-10843/ http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...-harbor-21473/ http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...-photos-33242/ 
