Hawaii is a key staging ground for war. From starting World War II to the false alert that a North Korean missile was heading for us to the most serious issue facing Honolulu today, the military has long been a major factor here. Today for example is the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Also today, the Navy announced it was suspending the use of the military fuel storage facility. Leaking fuel from their 80+-year old fuel tanks has penetrated into the city water supply system. This is the facility that Japan mistakenly avoided bombing 80 years ago, allowing the U.S. to quickly recover.
Mind you, faced with these war matters all my life, in addition to the Blue Revolution, World Peace has been high on my list of priorities. Read my Huffington Post articles on this subject, starting with Well, Barack, We have a Problem in 2011, where I provided a solution on how world peace might be advanced. I followed this posting with The 10% Solution for World Peace, The 10% Simple Solution to Peace, and, having been ignored by President Obama, chose to communicate with two messages to China's leaders, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping.
Hawaii has been steeped in war since the beginning of World War II on 7December1941.
- Today is the 80th anniversary of this surprise, sneak or strategic attack, depending on who is doing the writing.
- The Japanese strike force used 353 aircraft launched from four carriers in two waves, killing 2403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged 10 ships, including eight battleships.
- The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 5 midget submarines.
- They actually brought with them 6 carriers, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 9 destroyers, 8 tankers and 23 large submarines.
- During a seven hour period Japan also attacked the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong.
- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech featuring a date which will live in infamy resonates even today.
- The fact that Japan's declaration of war was not seen in time, said to be a weekend delay, led to the Tokyo Trials after the war becoming a judgement for war crimes.
Our three aircraft carriers were either luckily or knowingly out for maneuvers. This advantage, plus the abandonment of a third wave which was supposed to destroy fuel storage and other port facilities led six months later to the U.S. dealing a decisive blow to the Japanese navy in June 1942 at the Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers, leading to the defeat of Japan on 2September1945. This sea battle occurred because Japan was desperate to annihilate those carriers and bring the war to a quick end. The worst case scenario occurred.
Hawaii was fortunate not to be invaded, for in addition to no third wave, a decision was made on that day to withdraw. Because there were so many of Japanese extraction living here, only key community/religious leaders were sent to internment camps. Eventually more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were interned, mostly from the West Coast. 14,000 Japanese Canadians were also imprisoned.
That morning 80 years ago began with the code message to attack: Tora, Tora, Tora. While tora in Japanese means tiger, the TO-RA used derived from TOtsugeki RAigeki, or lightning attack. Appropriately enough, the festivities this morning at Pearl Harbor was led by U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro. Not quite Tora, but close.
I was one year old when my mother said she pointed to the smoke emanating from Pearl Harbor. But while I don't personally remember anything, I do recall that friendly fire destroyed some homes in McCully, where relatives of neighbors died, a tragedy that meant children being taken in by relatives. Only recently has the actual truth come out.
During the defense against the bombers, the guns of the United States Navy killed 55 Japanese airmen, compared with the 68 civilians who died. All but a few of these non-combatants were victims of shellfire. It’s therefore a melancholy but indisputable fact that on that day, the American armed forces in Hawaii succeeded in killing more civilians than they did members of the Japanese air force; something which is not generally known. Eighty years later, it is perhaps time to be open and honest about what happened on that dreadful day.
Ironically, the subsequent war and heroic efforts of the 100th and 4442nd units resulted in Niseis (second generation Japanese) changing the social fabric of Hawaii from second-class status to running the state of Hawaii. This shift largely remains today. A little more than 20 years after 7Dec41 I was assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat team.
One more bit of nostalgia. In my sophomore year at McKinley High School, only because he was such a great speaker, Fred Kimmel was voted class president. He went on to become a famous Poi Bowl radio announcer. It was rumored that he was somehow related to 4-star General Husband Kimmel, who at the time of the attack was Commander in Chief of the Pacific, and subsequently made a scapegoat, demoted two stars and retired in 1942. In 2000 the U.S. Senate exonerated him, but no president has yet restored him posthumously to four stars. I think it's interesting that he has been portrayed in several films:
- In the 1965 film In Harm's Way, Kimmel was portrayed as a victim of unfortunate circumstance by actor Franchot Tone.
If you have an hour to spare, watch this video on this day of infamy.
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