A Day That Will Live in Infamy

Hi All!

My Father-in-law's brothers fought in WWII. Allow me to share his story:

"I had two brothers in the European Theater, one in the infantry (John),
one in the Field Artillery (Frank) and Louie in the Pacific Theater.
Louie's plane, I believe it was a B-36 (the biggest bomber flying at
that time) was shot down with a full load of bombs coming over Nagasaki
the day before the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. His plane
exploded in the air with the bomb bay doors open. He had flown the
required number of missions but continued to volunteer for extra
missions . He had been based on several different Pacific islands but
moved as the war progressed closer to Japan."

My uncles on both sides of my family fought in Japan and Europe. My Grandpa fought in WWI. We didn't lose anyone.

My dad was fortunate to have served in the Navy between wars. I prayed every night that I wouldn't have to go to Vietnam from the time I was in 5th grade until I had to register for the draft on my 18th birthday.

I didn't get into the "Lottery." We were pulling out of that quagmire and I, like my friends, lucked out. My only military training consisted of the 4-year ROTC program at Cretin HS and although we learned how to shoot and how to fix the damage caused, such as field tracheotomy, plugging a sucking chest wound and improvising tourniquets to stop the bleeding of severed limbs, I have never had to use those skills, thank God -- but I know what to do if I need to.

(I HAVE nailed a crow or squirrel with a BB gun on occasion -- I've bagged a few crows but rabbits and squirrels just get pissed off and come back as if nothing happened).

What a different world we live in today.

When I visit with vets at the Legion Club, the WWII guys like to tell their amazing stories -- the vets of the later "conflicts" generally won't.

Western Civilization is confronting the greatest threat to it's continued existence since Hannibal sacked Rome.

Millions, if more than a billion of fellow humans are determined to kill us. We can keep on whistling in the dark as long as we want, because the outcome of this epic struggle will not happen in our lifetimes, not in our kids' lifetimes. After that, all bets are off.

On this Pearl Harbor Day, let us take a good look at ourselves and wonder how blind, selfish and cowardly we have become, and how eagerly our foes suck that up and are further encouraged to spit in our faces as they arm themselves for the final battle.

I never believed the lefty chicken littles who said Iraq would be another Vietnam. Putting aside the obvious fact that this "war" is totally different, the old "cut and run" is the same.

In my humble view, we made a good mess -- and God help us, we have to clean it up.

When is America going to unite in a just cause and make the necessary sacrifice to keep the world a better and safer place?

I fear that this will not ever happen again.