I remember listening in horror as the events unfolded on Radio and newsreels.. Common household TV was still several years away for us but the visual horror of Pearl Harbor and the terrible losses that followed are still, until this day, burned into my mind. The war came close to home for me. The brother of my good friend, (a Navy Pilot), was shot down never to be found in the Pacific war theater. Another very close friend of mine came home from the war a permanent paraplegic. Many young men in our small city gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy today.

I recall the phrase "Remember Pearl Harbor" which everyone loudly and proudly shouted to rally a patriotic nation under siege. We were not ashamed to fly Old Glory and weep at every loss. We'd cheer the victory no matter how small; Iwo Jima, Corregidor, Wake Island, Guadalcanal, etc and finally the ultimate victories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By God's Grace we won that one decisively but with a terrible loss of our country's treasure, the men and women who never returned. We cheered for and revered those who managed to survive and come home. They were our National Heroes.

Such patriotism and love of country is fast fading from our Republic. It is virtually frowned upon to even whisper, "Remember 911." It is politically incorrect to so much as remind Americans that there were some "bad folks" who, in a dastardly surprise attack on September 11th, killed almost 3,000 Americans in a single day at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. These "bad folks" and killers were Islamic Radicals. 

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Think about it -- pray about it -- and don't forget.. Look at the photos below.