Today is the "evening before" historically, one of those dates that changed the entire world forever.
I have wondered what was going through the military minds of the Janpanese generals, all who were involved in their decision to attack the United States the next morning. Did they sleep well? Were they excited about the prospects?
A quote from one of my favorite history texts. "The United States was plunged into the inferno of WWII with the most stupefying and humiliating military defeat in its history. In the dismal months that ensued, the democratic world teetered on the raw edge of disaster .....The Japanese fanatics forgot that when one stabs a king, one must stab to kill.." Now, as I study history and read from publications dated in 1940, 1941, I realize that Japan was sending ambassadors to the US at this time who were throwing up a blind in Washington as they talked about how peace-seeking they were, claiming to be no threat as the European Front raged on.
I can't claim to remember the radio broadcast that announced this deed to the world at large on Dec 7, 1941. At that time my home was a ranch in the middle of Wyoming, with no electricity, no radio to bring the news. But I do remember young men that I loved being drafted into the US Army.
By the end of the war I was a very little girl, in a small coal-mining town in Wyoming.
I do remember having blackouts, blinds pulled tight around the windows, all street lights darkened and hearing the drone of plane motors during the black of night. It was confusing, why would a little place in the middle of nowhere be of interest in this big war? Years later I realized that the very ground I walked on would have quite a bit of value in a war, the coal providing energy for the very things that are needed to battle.
The Japanese families that lived in our community were soon moved to another area. Because they were genetically connected to the enemy our government feared they might act as saboteurs in case of invasion. I didn't understand that either. But times were changing, and there is often no control over changes that come our way. I didn't have to understand. My grandfather wouldn't be able to go over to his pals for a glass of Sake any more. There were no more oranges placed on the graves of the Japanese ancestors on Memorial Day, It was a situation that one accepted, whether one liked it or not. It proved to be unnecessary and the records show that the Japanese-Americans had a high degree of loyalty to their new country. Their combat record was excellent, particularly those in Hawaii.
We lived with things like rationing of sugar, hard paper discs that acted as money in some cases, but it didn't feel or sound like money. I think they were called tokens. Women entered the armed forces as they never had before. Although the need for nurses was still huge, women filled all sorts of jobs as WACS, WAVES, Marines and SPARS.
Those stars in the windows of homes with a fighting man sent a multitude of messages. One was that their soldier had given his life for the cause. It was a time laced with occasional victories, it was a time laced with much sadness.
No war can be pretty, no war can be simple.WWII had some dates engraved on the minds of those that lived through it. Those dates can serve to cause us to reflect and to be grateful for the world we now have. The outcome could have been different. I hope to remember, to share the memories with those I hold dear. The need for awareness in every present. History should not be erased as time goes on, there are too many important lessons that the world needs
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