A Generation Not to Be Replaced, and Not to Be Duplicated

By Rich Kozlovich

Yesterday was Pearl Harbor Day, and this year I'm not seeing nearly as much about it as in times past. Typically, I don’t do sports or entertainment on Paradigms and Demographics unless there’s some social commentary involved, but I made an exception regarding the Midway movie release in 2019.

World War II has always been emotional for me. My father and uncles fought in it.  My father was in the Navy and took part in seven major invasions, and actually saw the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi.  My uncle had a ship blown up from under him by a Kamikaze pilot.  I had another uncle who served in WW II and Korea.  After Korea he was never the same.  When I look back at when they were born I realized they were just kids.  But all those kids serving in that war were real men, one and all.

The 2019 Midway movie isn’t a remake of the old movie, and I can honestly say this will be numbered among the best Word War II movies ever. I’ve seen a lot of movies on Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Jimmy Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo, and I think this one is the absolute best dealing with this subject, especially in the time frame of 2 hours and 18 minutes.  You can stream it on Prime. 

 

 Retired Navy Rear Admiral Sam Cox called it the most realistic movie about naval combat ever made.

 

That 2 hours and 18 minutes does not drag I assure you. In the past movies on these subjects spent way too much screen time on sub-stories and personal relationships that didn’t enhance the main story, and in this case the battle of Midway.

However, this version isn’t just about the Battle of Midway. It takes in the entire context of the war at that time, starting with the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor, and I can assure you there never was a move with a more convincing demonstration of the devastation that took place than you will see in this movie.  The special effects were startling, amazing.......and heart breaking.  Then they covered the attack on Tokyo by Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, and ended with the battle of Midway and the courageous young men who fought it. 

In this version the sub stories enhance the main theme, which was all about the heroism, dedication to duty, and sacrifice by a lot of very young men who went into battle knowing they were facing an enemy with superior numbers and equipment.   Such courage.   Pilots attacked the Japanese fleet with substandard planes and equipment knowing they were probably not coming back. I found watching the scenes showing so many of them being blown up very emotional. 

This movie was all about the story, and the sacrifice.  Describing this war in the movie “In Harm’s Way”, Commander Eddington tells Captain Rockwell Torrey:

“Old Rock of Ages, we've got ourselves another war. A gut bustin', mother-lovin' Navy war.”   

That  movie was fictional.  This movie shows just how gut busting it really was, depicting another generation that shames the current generation.  I found it very emotional.  

How many Pearl Harbor survivors are there?  There were 87,000 military personnel at Pearl Harbor that day, but  no one keeps track of the number left alive.  We do know there were five at a recent ceremony honoring those who died at Pearl Harbor.  We also know of the sixteen million who served in WWII, and there are only about 120,000 left alive, with 131 of them are dying every day.  

That generation is almost gone. It's clear that generation can't be replaced and won't be duplicated.  As I watch the devastation being done to America by the charlatans, knaves, and fools leading the nation I often wonder if these last survivors of WWII aren't sick to their stomachs, asking:  Did all those brave young men throw their live away for this? 

Pearl Harbor: Why was it chosen? What did FDR know? What was Stalin's role? Was it a sneak attack?

A selection of propaganda free posts on the road to World War. Was Pearl Harbor a sneak attack? Or a provoked attack?

By Michael Flores Dec 7, 2023 

I bet less than 10% of the country actually knows how and why Pearl Harbor was selected by Japan. Conspiracy theory? I have an annoying habit of naming names and their roles. Russia and Japan had fought before. They were sworn enemies. The target was supposed to be Russia....

The international spy ring had orders to prevent a war between Russia and Japan, who had many conflicts large and small over the years. In June of 1941 when Hitler broke the peace pact with Stalin the fear was that Japan would launch an attack from the East and force Stalin to fight a two front war.

The Soviet master spy Sorge who had set up spy rings all over the world using Communist Parties as recruitment centers, went to Japanese newspaper journalist and spy Hotsumi Ozaki and Kinkazu Saionji and ordered them to get to work trying to stop Japan from attacking Russia but instead to attack the United States, British and Dutch outposts. 

Ozaki had worked his way from his press position to adviser to Prince Konoye, Saionji was a member of the group that met every morning with the Imperial Cabinet to discuss the international politics of the day. Both began arguing that without an attack on western forces, there wouldn't be enough oil for Japan to fight a war, and Russia had little of it. The Japanese military, which had wanted to attack the Soviet Union, began to change their minds.

In the United States Communists and spies sprang into action. .............To Read More....Much More, and worth your time.

The Day That Will Live in Infamy

By Rich Kozlovich

This is December 7th isn't it?  At 72 I can get confused, but my calander says it's December 7th, so it must be December 7th.  That is Pearl Harbor Day, isn't it?  I'm not confused am I?

Every day I peruse any number of news sources, both conservative and not so conservative, and this morning, December 7th, I didn't see one article to link regarding the infamous attack by the Empire of Japan against the United States at Pearl Harbor. Nothing in Drudge, American Thinker, Townhall or CNS.  Is it possible these conservative sites don't know December 7th is Pearl Harbor day?  Of course with the failure of our public education system, maybe they don't know about it!

There was a lot about identity politics, a comedian who is homophobic, Ocasio-Cortez (I think she's going to he a headline every day now. No one that publicity hungry and that stupid can be ignored) and a whole lot of media clabber, but nothing about Pearl Harbor.  Must be a new PC racial profiling thing.  Wouldn't want to offend the people who perpetrated all sorts of human atrocities during the 1930's and 40's, would we?

At any rate, here's some history for your perusal!  Some of the conclusions presented here are flawed in my opinion but the event is well covered.

Updates: 

I will now apologize to American Thinker. They at least posted one article although initially I missed it.  I also didn't check American Spectator. Both are listed below.

• 77 Years Ago, A Date That Still Lives in Infamy - What would the snowflakes of today do if Pearl Harbor happened this morning?............
• This Is No Drill -The horrid surprise of December 7 never goes away. The first bomb fell a little before morning colors and by the time the attack was over, less than three hours later, the U.S. Navy had lost almost all of what it considered its capital ships. These were the battleships, one of which had blown up when a Japanese bomb penetrated a magazine where powder for the ship’s main batteries was stored. What is left of the U.S. Arizona still lies on the bottom, in the mud of Pearl Harbor. There is a monument built over the ship’s ruined hull, with the names of her dead — 1,117 of them — inscribed on one wall. You can look down into the water and see the spectral outline of the ship’s hull. It is a tomb, of sorts, holding the remains of 1,102 of those Arizona dead. Small red and blue ribbons, made by oil still leaking from the ship’s bunkers, drift in the water over the ship’s carcass..............

 

Logical Fallacy of the Week, Week 40: Historian's Fallacy

The Historian's fallacy – not to be confused with Historical fallacy - is a logical fallacy that occurs when one assumes that decision makers of the past viewed events from the same perspective and having the same information as those subsequently analyzing the decision. It is not to be confused with presentism, a mode of historical analysis in which present-day ideas (such as moral standards) are projected into the past.

The fallacy was outlined in 1970 by David Hackett Fischer, who suggested it was analogous to William James's psychologist's fallacy. Fischer did not suggest that historians should refrain from retrospective analysis in their work, but he reminded historians that their subjects were not able to see into the future.

As an example, he cited the well-known argument that Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor should have been predictable in the United States because of the many indications that an attack was imminent. What this argument overlooks, says Fischer, citing the work of Roberta Wohlstetter, is that there were innumerable conflicting signs which suggested possibilities other than an attack on Pearl Harbor. Only in retrospect do the warning signs seem obvious; signs which pointed in other directions tend to be forgotten. (See also: hindsight bias.)

My Take - While in principle I agree with this presentation I find the Pearl Harbor analogy somewhat inaccurate.  There were those who rightly predicted the attack in great detail because of the events which occurred during the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese conducted a sneak naval attack on Port Arthur without any declaration of war.  Although the Japanese attempted to have a declaration delivered at the last minute to the United States government, the mentality, the strategy and the views of the Japanese was almost identical. 

Those who predicted this attack were not uninformed radicals.  One of them was Col. Billy Mitchell, who caused so much public controversy regarding his views on the future of air power "his superiors sent him to Hawaii".....to quell the resultant fury of the battleship admirals and get Mitchell off the front pages."  

 "However, he returned with a scathing report on the inadequate defenses he saw there. He also went to Europe and the Far East to study the advances being made in aviation. After returning from the latter trip in 1924, he wrote a shocking 323-page report–probably the most prophetic document of his career–that stressed that, when making estimates of Japanese air power, 'care must be taken that it is not underestimated.'

"Mitchell believed that Japan was the dominant nation in Asia and was preparing to do battle with the United States. He predicted that air attacks would be made by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines and described how they would be conducted.  His report was received with all the enthusiasm of 'a green demolition team approaching an unexploded bomb,' according to one writer. The report was ignored; it is said that even his boss did not read it for two years."

He was later court marshaled for his publicly outspoken views of the incompetence of higher ranking commanders with no understanding or vision.  Yet everything he said came true. 

What is worse of course, it is clear that FDR should have known of the "sneak attack" at least three days before and didn't inform Admiral Husband Kimmel and General Walter Short, the commanders at Pearl Harbor, of the depth of his knowledge.  There is one part of this that has intrigued me for years. 

In William Stephenson's book, A Man Called Intrepid, he certainly gives the impression that Churchill had intelligence of the attack and informed FDR.  I will have to go back and read that book. 

The thirty years secrets act had expired, so he wrote it to explain their decisions during the war.  There was also a fifty years act....which I was really looking forward to seeing expire.  As I recall it was extended indefinitely.  That's scary since they deliberated picked thirty and fifty years respectively because then all the parties would be dead.  Clearly there are prominent families that had dirty...no....let's amend that....potentially filthy laundry that needs hidden, like Joe Kennedy. 

Get the book....it is worth the read.