From Here to Eternity
Today is December 7th. Seventy-six years ago Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor. Our two countries were not at war, but it had been clear that war was imminent, both with Japan and Germany. Most of the rest of the world was already at war, and the attack on Pearl Harbor signaled the official entry of the United States into World War II.
Everything changed that day. Life in the United States changed. The course of the war changed. Life for civilians in other belligerent countries changed. Even the strategies of warring armies changed. Everything changed, and nothing would ever be the same again.
The United States had already been mobilizing for war. FDR’s “arsenal of democracy” soon became the most potent industrial war machine the world had ever seen. Within six months American made tanks were augmenting the Red Army’s effort to thwart the German invasion of Soviet Russia. American long range bombers added to the inventory of British bombers and pounded the Third Reich into rubble. American soldiers landed in North Africa and aided the British effort to drive out the German Afrika Korps.
It would take a little longer for the United States to flip the Japanese advantage. The damage wreaked at Pearl Harbor would be overcome, but it would take time. If there was any success in the Japanese strategy, it was in temporarily arresting American hegemony in the Pacific – but only temporarily.
In the United States, life became instantly difficult. The entire industrial capacity of the country converted to wartime production. The auto industry stopped making cars and shifted to military production. The rubber industry made tires for jeeps and planes. Oil, certain foodstuffs, and textiles were rationed or made completely unavailable to civilians. Curfews and blackouts ruled the night.
Women took jobs that had previously been reserved for men. They worked in airplane factories and shipyards. Women, who had been considered delicate flowers in 1940, worked as welders, riveters, and miners, proving once and for all that women could more than hold their own in a “man’s world.” Not too many years before the war, white Americans had been terrified at the thought of Native Americans and African Americans carrying guns, but wartime necessity demonstrated that minorities were just as brave and dedicated as any other American. The opportunity to demonstrate such characteristics generally did not extend to Japanese and German Americans imprisoned in internment camps.
American involvement in World War II posed certain moral challenges for the United States. Fighting Nazi racism seemed hypocritical when put up against American racism. However, it made Americans question certain social institutions, and, so long as Nazism was considered pariah, many Americans embarked on a long journey to eradicate racism. The American conscience relating to Jews was not awakened until the horror of Nazi anti-Semitism was fully exposed.
Even American military strategy faced certain moral challenges. The carpet bombing of Dresden and Hamburg did more damage on civilian targets than military targets. The atom bomb, of course, posed the ultimate moral challenge, one that has never really been settled. The damage and loss of life in Dresden, Hamburg, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima is staggering. It was the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, who said, “War is Hell,” but all belligerents in World War II inflicted a living hell upon their enemies, and none were innocent.
There are few single events in history that mark a sudden shift in global affairs. The opening shots of World War I and World War II certainly fit into this category. The French Revolution and Martin Luther’s Reformation rise to that level, perhaps the sacking of Rome. Even though Pearl Harbor was part of the World War II story, it, in and of itself, is one of those moments. Its anniversary is a day to remember unprovoked aggression, to honor those who died in the attack, and to reflect upon how it changed the world. It is a day to remember into eternity.
https://www.bluewatertales.com
Everything changed that day. Life in the United States changed. The course of the war changed. Life for civilians in other belligerent countries changed. Even the strategies of warring armies changed. Everything changed, and nothing would ever be the same again.
The United States had already been mobilizing for war. FDR’s “arsenal of democracy” soon became the most potent industrial war machine the world had ever seen. Within six months American made tanks were augmenting the Red Army’s effort to thwart the German invasion of Soviet Russia. American long range bombers added to the inventory of British bombers and pounded the Third Reich into rubble. American soldiers landed in North Africa and aided the British effort to drive out the German Afrika Korps.
It would take a little longer for the United States to flip the Japanese advantage. The damage wreaked at Pearl Harbor would be overcome, but it would take time. If there was any success in the Japanese strategy, it was in temporarily arresting American hegemony in the Pacific – but only temporarily.
In the United States, life became instantly difficult. The entire industrial capacity of the country converted to wartime production. The auto industry stopped making cars and shifted to military production. The rubber industry made tires for jeeps and planes. Oil, certain foodstuffs, and textiles were rationed or made completely unavailable to civilians. Curfews and blackouts ruled the night.
Women took jobs that had previously been reserved for men. They worked in airplane factories and shipyards. Women, who had been considered delicate flowers in 1940, worked as welders, riveters, and miners, proving once and for all that women could more than hold their own in a “man’s world.” Not too many years before the war, white Americans had been terrified at the thought of Native Americans and African Americans carrying guns, but wartime necessity demonstrated that minorities were just as brave and dedicated as any other American. The opportunity to demonstrate such characteristics generally did not extend to Japanese and German Americans imprisoned in internment camps.
American involvement in World War II posed certain moral challenges for the United States. Fighting Nazi racism seemed hypocritical when put up against American racism. However, it made Americans question certain social institutions, and, so long as Nazism was considered pariah, many Americans embarked on a long journey to eradicate racism. The American conscience relating to Jews was not awakened until the horror of Nazi anti-Semitism was fully exposed.
Even American military strategy faced certain moral challenges. The carpet bombing of Dresden and Hamburg did more damage on civilian targets than military targets. The atom bomb, of course, posed the ultimate moral challenge, one that has never really been settled. The damage and loss of life in Dresden, Hamburg, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima is staggering. It was the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, who said, “War is Hell,” but all belligerents in World War II inflicted a living hell upon their enemies, and none were innocent.
There are few single events in history that mark a sudden shift in global affairs. The opening shots of World War I and World War II certainly fit into this category. The French Revolution and Martin Luther’s Reformation rise to that level, perhaps the sacking of Rome. Even though Pearl Harbor was part of the World War II story, it, in and of itself, is one of those moments. Its anniversary is a day to remember unprovoked aggression, to honor those who died in the attack, and to reflect upon how it changed the world. It is a day to remember into eternity.
https://www.bluewatertales.com
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