Never Forget...

 (Attack on Pearl Harbor)

ANOTHER SAD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
Today, December 7, 2012, marks the 71st anniversary of the attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on Pearl Harbor that launched us into World War II.

 (Buchenwald Concentration Camp)

READ THE PREVIOUS POSTS
I've written about this many times, including last year, HERE, where I provided links to other entries.  I hope you will take the time to visit that entry and read the comments attached to it.  Included therein is a list of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach residents who survived that terrible, costly war.  More than 400,000 Americans lost their lives fighting to keep this country free.

 (Manzanar Internment Camp)

STUDY THE HISTORY
Please take a few minutes today to remember what this war was all about.  The History Channel has an excellent site, HERE, which includes archival video and audio clips and photos.  Additionally, you can find an excellent history of the war at the Wikipedia site, HERE.

 (Hiroshima)

BEYOND BELIEF!
Some of the statistics of that war are staggering.  About half way down the Wikipedia page there is a chart that shows the numbers of war dead and injured by particpating country.  85% of the total caualties were on the Allied side - mostly Soviet and Chinese - who suffered deaths and injuries in the tens of millions!  It's estimated that 60 million people died in that war - 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians.  Stop and think about that for a second.

 (Surrender on USS Missouri)

PLEASE GIVE THANKS...
So, today - "a date that will live in infamy", according to then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt - please pause and give thanks to the brave men and women of my parents generation - The Greatest Generation according to author Tom Brokaw - for the courage and sacrifices they made to insure our freedom.  Here's a chart to put that war into perspective.  Click on the image to enlarge it.