Today is Dec. 7. It marks 82 years ago since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the act that thrust the United States into World War II.
I think it’s important for us today to stop a few minutes and think about that infamous day.
The outcome of that war is one of the reasons we as Americans can celebrate our freedom today.
Hundreds of thousands of American men and women are no longer around to share their feelings, their thoughts about that day.
A few years back, I did some research about the war.
It’s considered the deadliest military conflict in our history, with 416,800 American soldiers killed. The total U.S. military and civilian deaths during the war was more than 418,000, sources have said.
That Sunday morning, more than 350 Japanese aircraft attacked American ships. Nineteen U.S. Navy ships were destroyed or damaged and nearly 200 U.S. aircraft were destroyed and damaged.
The attack killed 2,403 Americans, including servicemen and 68 civilians.
There were an additional 1,178 who were wounded in the surprise attack. There was no state of war when the Japanese planes descended upon Pearl Harbor that morning.
The Japanese strike force included more than 350 aircraft launched from four heavy carriers. It also consisted of two heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, two light cruisers, nine oilers, two battleships and 11 destroyers.
The Japanese lost only 29 aircraft, five midget submarines and 130 of their service personnel were killed.
The people who are still alive today, who were old enough then to understand what happened, can recall the significance and magnitude the attack had on America.
The war ended just under four years later with the dropping of two atomic bonds within three days on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
I was born a little less than three years after the war ended and today I am one of those considered a baby boomer.
It was 29 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor that I was sworn into the United States Army Reserves in Shawnee. Fiftythree years ago this past Monday is a day that will be lodged in my mind forever.
It’s the day I arrived at Fort Polk, La., to begin my basic training and Advance Individual Training (AIT).
I didn’t receive my orders to attend basic until late November, eight months after I joined the Reserves.
There were four of us from the Shawnee unit who traveled together to Fort Polk to begin basic.
The other three included Rick Brown from McLoud, Ron Meek and Larry Gordon from the Oklahoma City area.
Rick still lives in McLoud.
I’ve lost track of the other two.
Never will I figure out why the Army sent us to begin basic at that time of year, three weeks to the day before Christmas. They sent us home Dec. 17, 13 days after we had arrived, because the base shut down training for the holidays.
I was quite happy to return home in April to my home unit that was located in the Reserve Center in Shawnee on what is now Airport Road. Six weeks later, Memorial Day Weekend, we returned to Fort Polk for two weeks of annual training.
When I was sworn in it was for six years. I also did another one-year stint and then another six-year stint. I was proud to serve this great country as a member of the Armed Forces.