PEARL HARBOR, NEW HISTORY STUDENT GUIDE

Image via www.sdphs.org

How to explain Pearl Harbor in 2016.

While years speed by history lays at risk, Pearl Harbor in particular.

Names and places change, motives revealed, but the dead stay dead.

New students may have trouble gripping the scope of WWII, but Pearl Harbor needs to stay constant.

The sneak attack that will live in infamy wasn’t as big a surprise for everyone.

James Otto Richardson (18 September 1878 – 2 May 1974) was an admiral in the United States Navy who served from 1902 to 1947. As Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (CinCUS), he protested against the redeployment of the Pacific portion of the fleet forward to Pearl Harbor, believing that a forward defense was neither practical nor useful, and that the Pacific Fleet would be the logical first target in the event of war with Japan, vulnerable to air and torpedo attacks. He was subsequently relieved of command in February 1941. His concerns were to be proved justified in December.

When a man in senior leadership challenges orders, things happen, like getting fired.

This is important to remember: If you break ranks when you know more about conditions than decision makers above you, you might be right, but there’s a cost.

Admiral Richardson paid the price. His story is a family legacy, relayed by my grandmother, a Turner.

Never be afraid to do what’s right, just be ready to pay.

The men and women of Pearl Harbor paid the price in 1941.

Their story is the story of America.

In a world of peril, nations need to join together.

Japan bombing the American fleet in Hawaii created a bond.

Modern technology allows us to revisit every stage of the War in the Pacific.

View with a cautious eye.

The young men in youtube videos passed into history.

Old men who commanded them died years earlier.

Their stories, their history, is our history.

From them we learn how a world goes to war, and how a world heals.

Healing is a difficult concept all these decades later by countries full of young people unused to conflict.

This is for them:

After their surrender, Japan filled with occupying Allied forces.

One of many views of Pearl Harbor online, the Smithsonian Channel details the events from the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVGcQKJxVOY

In a story of monumental proportion it’s important to identify yourself in the mix.

Make no mistake, you’re in there.

From 7:55 on a breezy Hawaiian Sunday morning until now, America pays the price of freedom.

Don’t lose sight of that in this modern day.