December 7th is Pearl Harbor Day. The sudden sneak attack by Japan unified America, igniting a war that would forever change the world. Japan never apologized. I have been to the Pearl Harbor memorial four times and two of those visits observed Japanese students watching the video presentation and laughing. Now, I am a naturalized citizen, born in Europe, yet this still enraged me. After the attack, a popular song went as follows:

 

History in every century records an act that lives forevermore.
We'll recall, as into line we fall,
The thing that happened on Hawaii's shore.

Let's remember Pearl Harbor
As we go to meet the foe.
Let's remember Pearl Harbor
As we did the Alamo.
We will always remember how they died for Liberty.
Let's remember Pearl Harbor
And go on to victory.

 

It can be heard on YouTube Music. Pearl Harbor has been compared to 9/11 and the unification of all Americans after a national tragedy. This is not a call to arms as much as a reflection of who we are as a people and the diversity we cherish. But let's never forget Pearl Harbor and the men and women who died and were wounded in that terrible event.

 

Seen in a local book store/coffee house: "Remember Pearl Harbor, Remember the Maine, Remember the Alamo...Remember Peace."