Editorial: Preserve lessons of Dec. 7, 1941

In recent years, the count of World War II veterans in attendance at the annual National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Commemoration has declined as the vets aged into their 90s.

Today, for the first time in many years, not a single USS Arizona survivor will be present for the 7:55 a.m. moment of silence, which marks the start of Japan’s aerial attack on ships and military bases on Oahu that propelled the United States into war.

In the daring attack, which lasted just over two hours, 21 vessels of the Pacific Fleet, including eight battleships, were sunk or damaged, 164 aircraft were destroyed, and a total of 2,390 American service members and Oahu civilians were killed. The USS Arizona sustained the greatest loss of life ever on a U.S. war ship — a total of 1,177 men were killed, and more than 900 remain entombed in the sunken battleship.

Due to failing health and other matters, the five remaining crew members are unable to attend today’s 77th commemoration. Their absence serves as a poignant signal that the nation is losing Pearl Harbor’s most compelling touchstone.

Our debt of gratitude to Pearl Harbor’s defenders and the rest of the greatest generation can be paid forward, in part, by continuing to record, preserve and learn from the stories of that era.

Most of today’s surviving civilians were carefree children on the sleepy Sunday morning preceding the attack. Hawaii’s late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye was a teen getting ready for church.

In a National Public Radio interview recorded in 2011, Inouye, recalled: “I was just putting on my necktie and listening to the music. All of a sudden the disc jockey stopped the music and started screaming, yelling and screaming. The Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor. … And so, I took my father and I said, ‘Let’s go out on the street.’”

From there, looking toward the harbor, Inouye said: “There were puffs, dark puffs of anti-aircraft fire and then suddenly overhead three aircraft flew. They were gray in color with red dots — the Japanese symbol — and I knew that it was no play, it was real.”

In the attack’s aftermath, the Territory of Hawaii contended with the dictates of martial law, which ranged from blackout curfews to internment camps. During Christmastime 1941, the U.S. tagged its Japanese citizens as “4C,” an enemy alien designation. Justifiably insulted and angered, Inouye and others successfully petitioned to serve in the military.

Inouye, who would become a Medal of Honor recipient and Hawaii’s longtime U.S. senator, was among many residents who shouldered the unwarranted burden of proving loyalty to the country while defending it. When WWII ended, this contingent, along with civilian men and women, helped the islands recover and rebuild, paving the way for statehood.

Moving forward, we can honor them by emulating their stouthearted spirit and sharing their stories with younger and future generations. The National Park Service, which has collected more than 1,000 oral histories from military and civilian survivors, is among the organizations leading the legacy effort.

Also, in a move that will better spotlight the USS Arizona, the site is expected to undergo a name change. Last month, the U.S. House passed legislation removing it from the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, which comprises sites in three states, and establishing a separate Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

The stand-alone status aims to benefit legacy-related fundraising for the site, which ranks among Hawaii’s top visitor draws.

This year’s commemoration theme, “Forging the Future,” is accompanied by a sub-theme that references an address given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943, just over a year after the attack. In it, he said the “unconquerable spirit” of those who “fought our first battles of this war against overwhelming odds” will live forever.

Indeed. Sentiment worthy of reflection today, and on every Dec. 7 to come.