December 7th do you remember?

Today is December 7, 2012. No I am not reminding you what day it is today I am wondering if you know the significance of the day December 7th?

You look on the news pages and it’s the same news as every day. Employment is up or down, earthquakes here or there, what Hollywood star is having plastic surgery or having an affair and toward the bottom you may find one little line about an event from 71 years ago. You drive around and only a few flags are flown at half masked if flown at all.

I wasn’t born yet, just like many of you who are reading this, but why does that mean it is an event that should be ignored and mostly forgotten?

The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred Sunday morning December 7, 1941 and shocked our nation into WWII.  As the sun rose, 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes, in two waves were launched from 6 air craft carriers and set out to Pearl Harbor to release their deadly cargo on unsuspecting American service personnel and civilians. Many of our service men were sleeping in their berths aboard their ships when the bombs fell and the torpedoes swam. Some ships capsized in minutes trapping men who had no way out.

After the attack there were fires everywhere, men in the oil filled water burned and the sound of tapping from the men who were trapped inside the capsized vessels. Efforts to weld holes in the hulls of those ships began, saving some. On Christmas Eve, 17 days after the attack, some survivors reported still hearing faint tapping sounds from men they could not reach still alive, trapped in the cold, wet, dark ship that would become their final resting place.

2,402 Americans lost their lives that day, 1,282 were wounded and our nation would never be the same. This was our parents and grandparents 9/11.

 December 7th should never be forgotten just like 9/11. Fly your flags; tell your children and grandchildren about Pear Harbor day and what it means. Don’t let it be just another day on the calendar. We must remember those who lost their lives not just at Pearl Harbor but for all of the service men and woman who have given their lives in the defense of our Country so that you and I can enjoy the freedoms that their sacrifice has given us.

Diane Eddy-Low