In honor of lives lost and those who remain
In honor of lives lost and those who remain
73 years ago today, the relative serenity and calm of a Honolulu morning was interrupted by the sound of incoming enemy aircraft from the Empire of Japan. Soon to be followed by the sounds of one shipmate after another yelling "Incoming!" and warning each other of both the Japanese planes and their ordnances, it was undoubtedly one horrific day.
U.S. Navy folks surveyed the damage once the attack was over and the cowards who'd sucker punched us had departed, and the toll was grim: 2,403 lives lost and another 1,178 were wounded and would never be the same. The U.S.S Arizona is the most famous of the ships whose crews lost lives that day- and many of the 1,177 lives lost aboard her remain forever entombed on the ocean floor beneath the memorial. Oil from the ship still leaks to the surface this very day. Lives lost aboard other ships was widespread, as follows:
U.S.S. Oklahoma, 429
U.S.S. West Virgina, 106
U.S.S. California, 100
U.S.S. Nevada, 60
U.S.S. Tennessee, 5
U.S.S. Maryland, 4
U.S.S. Pennsylvania, 9
U.S.S. Utah, 64
U.S.S. Helena, 20
U.S.S. Curtiss, 19
Each of those lives was valuable- each one lost was someone's son, father, brother, uncle or nephew with a great deal of their lives ahead of them. Far too many shipmates were lost that day- and far too many families who once envisioned a storybook pier-side reunion instead saw their loved ones return home in a flag-draped box.
May God bless the memory of those who died at Pearl Harbor. May He bless the thinning number of Pearl Harbor survivors who have lived with and suffered from the memories of that day- each hero's circumstance somewhat different, yet each one exactly the same.
May we as a nation never forget lives lost in our defense. Whether they perished when the savages attacked us that 1941 day or died at the hands of our enemies in Viet Nam, Korea, Iraq or Afghanistan, each one remains in death the heroes they'd been well before they departed this world for the next.
May we remain ever vigilant... for we know not from where tomorrow's surprise attack may originate. In that spirit, let's honor the sacrifices of every hero we've lost by remembering that there are still some in Viet Nam who have yet to return home- and resolve to continue pressing for answers to unresolved Benghazi questions.
Once again, may we remain ever vigilant, ever mindful.
In honor of lives lost and those who remain
