This December 7, 2015, the world will keep on turning, and if you’re in the same boat as me- and most college goers across the country- you will find yourself fully immersed more than you could possibly care for in…wait for it…FINALS! Woo hoo! But, amidst all the fun and merriment of finals, it is just as important as to never forget that fateful day of December 7, 1941, when the course of history was changed forever.
Just before 8:00a.m., the American naval fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii received the rudest of wake-up calls. The men of the Pacific Fleet were awakened by the hums of Japanese fighter planes, and the smashing of the U.S.S. Arizona’s hull by a 1,800-pound bomb that sent her into a fiery explosion with more than 1,000 men trapped within. The Japanese had one objective on that morning: annihilate the American fleet, and annihilate it they nearly did. The Arizona was not the only ship who was bullied that morning. The U.S.S. Oklahoma found herself beaten with torpedoes just before she rolled into the blue Hawaiian waters with 400 American soldiers still aboard. By the time the Japanese finally relinquished a battered and bloodied American fleet from its suffocating grip, nearly every ship- USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee, and USS Nevada- had sustained significant damage. The Japanese had had one objective on that morning- annihilate the American fleet, and annihilate it they nearly did. The American spirit, however, refused to accept this attack as a defeat, and every shipped was repaired.
The next morning, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States Congress made their declaration of war, the United States was launched into the greatest war known to man within a mere 72 hours. The sleeping giant was awoken with Lady Liberty charging the way to victory. Though the events of Pearl Harbor were nothing short of sheer tragedy, it sparked the greatest unification in American history. Never before had American band together like she had in the face of adversity brought about by this colossal war. The lives lost in Pearl Harbor were not lost in vain, as America marched on to victory for the lost soldiers, proving to the world the United States of America is not to be taunted or pushed. It was this war that thrust America into her position as leading nation of the globe- a delicate yet powerfully influential position she holds to this day.
Like Toby Keith says in quite possibly one of my most favorite songs, we’ll put a boot in your- well you get the idea. It is the American way. We are not to be taken lightly. So during the finals week chaos you’re undoubtedly drudging through, remember the brave souls who trudged through the war-torn fields of Europe and East Asia, and the lives lost during the tragic events of Pearl Harbor. No one wants to take finals, but without these courageous individuals- would we even had the choice to pursue education?
In memoriam of all who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the men who fought for our freedom in WWII.
