National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

 It was 7:55 a.m. on a Sunday morning when the Japanese suddenly attacked Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  As then president, Franklin D. Roosevelt said, when making his radio announcement to the American public, it is "a date which will live in infamy". Yet seventy three years later, less than 9% of the American population alive today was living at the time of the attack. Will it be forgotten as these few who remain pass on leaving behind only a National Remembrance Day and the USS Arizona Memorial?
I remember in 2001, when the Michael Bay film about Pearl Harbor premiered, my husband and I had young children and had to get a sitter for a night out. Our sitter was a high school senior, intelligent, active with plans to go to the state university after graduation. Upon returning home after dinner and a long movie, our sitter inquired about which movie we had seen. We told her Pearl Harbor and she told us she had never heard of it. She asked us what it was about? I was dumbfounded! How could this possibly be, especially at the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor?
So, let us not forget or let the generations after us forget the event that was the beginning of World War II for the Americans. The surprise attack that resulted in the tragic loss of 2,500 lives, 20 Naval vessels and over 200 planes on that sleepy Sunday morning. And to help you remember Neill Public Library has many materials on the subject.  Try Pearl Harbor an A & E video recording with personal narratives of the event.  Also available Day of Infamy by Lord in book or book on CD. These titles are also available;  The Attack on Pearl Harbor by Peter Benoit, Attack on Pearl Harbor: The True Story of the Day America Entered World War II by Tanaka, The Attack on Pearl Harbor by McGowen and The Attack on Pearl Harbor a comic book by Sutcliffe.  No matter your choice of material, it's important that we never forget!
Lori C Lewis
Administrative Assistant