“A Date Which Will Live In Infamy” – President Franklin Roosevelt
By JoAnn Biren, Staff Writer
Turn on your computer, Google on your smart phone, or call an elderly relative and ask, ‘What happened on December 7, 1941?’ And, the answers come immediately…in this case, 31,500,000 results in 71 seconds on the computer screen.
From the Library of Congress web site come the following two paragraphs: On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor External, Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The U.S.S. Arizona was completely destroyed and the U.S.S. Oklahoma capsized. A total of twelve ships sank or were beached in the attack and nine additional vessels were damaged. More than 160 aircraft were destroyed and more than 150 others damaged. A hurried dispatch from the ranking United States naval officer in Pearl Harbor, Admiral Husband Edward Kimmel, Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, to all major navy commands and fleet units provided the first official word of the attack at the ill-prepared Pearl Harbor base. It said simply: AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT DRILL.
And: The following day, in an address to a joint session of Congress, President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941 “a date which will live in infamy.” Congress then declared War on Japan, abandoning the nation’s isolationism policy and ushering the United States into World War II. Within days, Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States, and the country began a rapid transition to a wartime economy by building up armaments in support of military campaigns in the Pacific, North Africa, and Europe.
Bob Schmidt, former Slayton school teacher displays his patriotism proudly. He can recite verbatim flag etiquette and will do so if one asks. And, sometimes when they don’t, especially if the flag is being improperly displayed. He is worried young people today don’t have enough of patriotism, or even know what the word means.
The question he is asked relate to his memories regarding the day the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor. But, he has another mission in mind. “Do you know what 11-11-38 means?” After much discussion and wrong answers it was determined that Irving Berlin composed the song, God Bless America, which Kate Smith sang on November 11, 1938. President Roosevelt declared November 11 a national holiday and called it Armistice Day. Later, in 1954 President Eisenhower would change the title to Veterans Day. This is important to Schmidt. He feels veterans should be honored; remembered for the service they gave to our country.
He remembers where he was on the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. “I was looking for Christmas trees 10 miles outside of Hibbing,” he said quickly when asked. “I was 12 years old.”
When the young Schmidt returned home the talk was all about the bombing. “My former boss, his son couldn’t find employment,” Schmidt recalled. “It was during the depression, so he joined the Navy. He was in the Pacific. He never came home.”
Newspapers and radio brought the news to those living in small towns and large. Schmidt was a paper boy and remembered the special editions that were printed. He replaced two older “guys” who joined the Marines. “They never came home either,” he said solemnly.
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