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Remembering Pearl Harbor
Editor,
It is said that "he who fails to remember is condemned to repeat". Although I do not expect much publicity reminding Americans of the Day That Will Live in Infamy, whether by reason of public apathy or political correctness, Americans should never forget the day that it took a "surprise" attack on our Naval Forces in Pearl Harbor and a Declaration of War against the United States by both Japan and Germany and the cost paid by Americans because they refused to accept the fact that what was occurring around them, throughout the world, could have a direct impact on them.
Americans have long lived in an isolationist mentality as it has not been since the War of 1812 that we fought an invading enemy on our native soil. Between 1931 and 1941 Americans stood by with their heads in the sand as entire nations were invaded throughout Europe, Asia and the Pacific, thinking this could never affect them directly. Well, history has proven that the American people were wrong. WWII cost the lives of 300,000 American military service men and women with an equivalent amount of American wounded.
Then there are those who believe (I am one) that political correctness and decisions made by American politicians caused the Korean conflict to last two years longer than it could have costing 58,000 American lives. In 1962 President Kennedy (after conferring with General McArthur) declared that if Americans were not concerned with the threat of Communism 90 miles from our Florida shore, why should they be concerned with what was occurring in Southeast Asia, 9,000 miles away, and he was adamant that America should not send troops to Vietnam and a year later ordered the return of all military advisors and military aid. Unfortunately he was assassinated soon thereafter and we ended up in a war that cost 58,000 American lives and over 500,000 wounded, not to mention those returning suffering PTSD and those 60,000 vets who took their own lives after returning.
America is now facing an entirely new crisis, one where there is no nation with sovereign boundaries or uniforms who threaten us, but threaten us they do and the invasion, slaughter and threat to countries around the globe are just as real as it was in the 1930s. Although I don't propose to have the answer, I know that he who fails to remember is condemned to repeat and it is time for the American people to remember and open their eyes to the world in which we live and act now to ensure that the threat which the world faces now and that which we are sure to face in the not so distant future must be faced and dealt with now before it is too late. If nothing else, we need to take our heads out of the sand and use the power of the pen to let our representatives in Congress know how we feel. We need to stop blaming others when we do nothing for ourselves. As JFK said, "Ask not what your Country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country".
Andrew Powers
Mahopac
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