The Last 13 #ShadowshotSunday

December 7, 2025, the 84th anniversary of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. 

This isn't a picture of Pearl Harbor - I've never been there.  This is also Shadowshot Sunday, and I'm posting a peaceful picture taken in July, 2024 in Acadia National Park in Maine.

But December 7, 1941 was a peaceful Sunday, until it wasn't.  Here is more about it.

Pearl Harbor Day was the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which was not yet one of the 50 United States.  Japan declared war on the United States shortly after the attack. The United States declared war on Japan the next day, and Germany declared war on the United States three days later.

The official death toll of Pearl Harbor was 2,403.

December 7 is a day meaningful to the generation that preceded mine - the generation that is sometimes called "The Greatest Generation".  In the same way, November 22 is that date for my generation -  the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.  Newer generations have their own day where everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing.

But the anniversary of Pearl Harbor may not live on for too much longer.  Eyewitnesses to the attack are dying of old age, as are the military members who survived.  I recently heard a news report that said that only 13 veteran survivors of Pearl Harbor are still alive.  All of them are aged 100 or above.

Here is an interview with one of the last 13.

Their sacrifices made it possible for me to enjoy a peaceful day at Acadia National Park in 2024.

We must continue to remember.

Joining Lisa at This and That: A Blog for her #ShadowshotSunday.
 

Pearl Harbor 80th Anniversary

Today, December 7, is a day meaningful to the generation that preceded mine - the generation that is sometimes called "The Greatest Generation".

My parents were a member of that generation,  After 1941, December 7 was never a date on the calendar to them, ever again. I grew up quite conscious of Pearl Harbor and its importance in our history.

Pearl Harbor Day was the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which was not yet one of the 50 United States.  Japan declared war on the United States shortly after the attack. The United States declared war on Japan the next day, and Germany declared war on the United States three days later.

Now, it is 2021, and the number of veterans of World War II shrinks daily. In the past few days, we have lost two famous WWII vets- Senator Bob Dole (dead at 98) died Sunday.  The last surviving officer of Easy Company (the Band of Brothers), Edward Shames, died Friday at age 99.  

Dole wanted to be a surgeon.  His war injuries prevented that, and his life went in a different direction. Shames, a Jewish war veteran, entered the Dachau concentration camp days after its liberation. He was the next to last surviving member of the Band of Brothers. 

Now, the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941.  About 30 veterans of the attack and 100 other veterans will be at the site today to pay tribute.

We remember Pearl Harbor today. 

Once again, there will be a memorial parade in the state of Hawaii. 

It's a sadness as I see the generation that raised me dwindle as they depart our world.   Of some 16 million vets, about 240,000 remain.  There is no firm number I can find of survivors of Pearl Harbor, but we all know the number is dwindling. Here's what I blogged in 2019.

We must never forgot our history.   Without knowing what has come before, we don't know the consequences of what happens today.  We can not make good decisions about what is happening now.  Not just on December 7, but every day. 

No matter what country you live in, dear reader, please take a moment and reflect on your personal history.  And hope that, one day, our world can finally achieve peace.  Until then, may we remember the sacrifices of the troops who defend us from our enemies.

May their memories not die with them.

Christmas World War II Songs #MusicMovesMe

Hello, fellow music lovers, and welcome to another episode of Music Moves Me!  

 

Who are the #MusicMovesMe bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!  First, there is XmasDolly,   Her co-conductors are:  Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, Stacy of Stacy Uncorked   and, finally, me.  

We'd love you to join us every Monday and share your music with us.  But please note this is is a music blog only - please post at least one You Tube or Vimeo video so we can dance with you. 

Each month we have a guest conductor except for December, when it is all holiday music, all the time.  You'll note I said holiday music, not Christmas music, because I may include some Hanukkah flavored music during Hanukkah, which begins later this week (the evening of December 10).

For now, today is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, so I'd like to dedicate this post to those who have fought in all wars and those who died on December 7, 1941.  May your sacrifices not be forgotten.

Let's start the festivities off with Ginger Rogers and a World War II Christmas Radio.  Enjoy the slideshow, too, if you are a 40's fan.

I'll Be Home for Christmas (If Only In My Dreams) was recorded by Bing Crosby in  October of 1943 to honor the troops serving abroad,  and it's become a standard of the Christmas season.  It's also one of my all-time favorite holiday songs.  Speaking of this song, this story may interest you.

Here's a medley of songs from the movie Holiday Inn, which included the debut of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. This was a Kraft Music Hall live broadcast based on this movie, an Irving Berlin musical.  This takes us through a year, starting with the characters Starting the New Year Right. So OK, it's not all Christmas, but you can hear White Christmas at about 6:40 into the video.  But I could swoon through this entire video listening to Bing Crosby.

Let's get more in the swing of things with Benny Goodman and His Orchestra with Santa Claus Came in the Spring.

And it's not Christmas, but I couldn't help but include this video of Maria Von Trapp trying to teach Julie Andrews to yodel.  Sorry, getting distracted!

So I'd better close now.  Dame Vera Lynn passed away in June, aged 103.  This is one of her World War II era songs, from 1939. Enjoy Vera Lynn and "I'm Sending a Letter to Santa Claus".  What a voice Vera Lynn had.  I've featured her on several of my blog posts.

I hope you had a wonderful trip down Memory Lane.  Same time, same place, next Monday?

 

Remembering Another Pearl Harbor Anniversary

December 7, 2019, 78 years after the day that would live on in infamy - the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

 Pearl Harbor Day was the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which was not yet one of the 50 United States.  Japan declared war on the United States shortly after the attack. The United States declared war on Japan the next day, and Germany declared war on the United States three days later.

The official death toll of Pearl Harbor was 2,403.

December 7 is a day meaningful to the generation that preceded mine - the generation that is sometimes called "The Greatest Generation".  In the same way, November 22 is that date for my generation -  the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.  For a newer generation, January 28 is the date the shuttle Challenger exploded not long after liftoff.  There is September 11, 2001. For the people of India, there is what they call "26/11" in their way of writing dates, the terrible Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008.

But the anniversary of Pearl Harbor may not live on for too much longer.  Eyewitnesses to the attack are dying of old age.  When I looked at this in 2017, for example, five survivors of the sinking of the USS Arizona were still alive.  Today, only three are still alive - two died this year.

Overall (apparently) there may be only 11 survivors of the attack, although that depends on how you define who is included.

One of those, Lauren Bruner, was the second to last man to escape the burning Arizona.  He lived to age 98, and passed away in his sleep in September.

Any survivor of the USS Arizona's sinking has the right (as of 1982) to be interred on the wreckage of the ship, which still lies in Pearl Harbor and is visited by upwards of a million people a year.  The same right is granted to the survivors of another ship, the USS Utah.  So far, 44 deceased survivors have been so interred.

Lauren Bruner will be the last man interred on the Arizona, as the three remaining survivors plan different final resting places.  His ashes will be placed by divers inside the wreckage later today in a sunset ceremony.

Another survivor of Pearl Harbor, Joseph Iscovitz, died in June at the age of 103.

Others of the Greatest Generation leave us daily.  This year, this included:
John "Jack" Lyle, one of the decorated African-American Tuskogee Airmen, at the age of 98.
Dick Churchhill, the last of the survivors of the "Great Escape", in February, at age 99 (no, he wasn't related to Winston Churchill). 
Richard Cole, last of the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Japan four months after Pearl Harbor in a daring raid that raised American morale, in April, at age 103.

To all the men and women who served in World War II, we remember your service today. 

The Disappearing Anniversary

Last year was the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

Pearl Harbor Day was the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which was not yet one of the 50 United States.  Japan declared war on the United States shortly after the attack. The United States declared war on Japan the next day, and Germany declared war on the United States three days later.

The official death toll of Pearl Harbor was 2,403.

 December 7 is a day meaningful to the generation that preceded mine - the generation that is sometimes called "The Greatest Generation".  In the same way, November 22 is that date for my generation -  the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.  For a newer generation, January 28 is the date the shuttle Challenger exploded not long after liftoff.  There is September 11, 2001. For the people of India, there is what they call "26/11" in their way of writing dates, the terrible Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008.

But the anniversary of Pearl Harbor may not live on for too much longer.  Eyewitnesses to the attack are dying of old age.  Take the most famous ship in that attack, the USS Arizona.  As of July of this year, there were five survivors still alive.

My parents are long gone.  If my Dad, a World War II veteran, was still alive, he would be over 100. The man who is interviewed above (his parents immigrated from Mexico) is 105 now.  Ray Chavez, a World War II combat veteran, survived Pearl Harbor and still remembers it. And Pearl Harbor wasn't the only tragic thing that happened to him, as he weathered the tragic death of his daughter, grandchild and son in law in a car accident.

This is a report on his 105th birthday celebration.

Yes, he still works out twice a week with a personal trainer.

And he says "I am not a hero".

I disagree.

We must never forgot our history.   Without knowing what has come before, we don't know the consequences of what happens today.  We can not make good decisions about what is happening now.  Not just on December 7, but every day.

The Knife Edge of HIstory

Watching some of the news coverage of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II, I am struck by this:

Soon, in the next few years, all the survivors of World War II, civilian and military, will be gone.  I watched those last few survivors of Pearl Harbor, many of them in wheelchairs, their bodies shrunken in age but their minds as active as ever, give their testimony.

And then, I thought of something else. 

The torch is being passed.   We, the generations that followed The Greatest Generation (the generation that fought and suffered in World War II) are sitting on the knife edge of history.

What the United States does in the coming months will affect our world for years to come.  What we do as a nation to support or oppose those efforts will impact everyone in the world.  We are all connected, whether we think so or not.

We have the chance to ease suffering, or to increase it.

Oh Tannenhaum, Tioga County Historical Society, Owego, New York

We have the chance to make beauty, if only we do it.

But first, we must look the face of history in the eye.

For the next two Sundays, I will feature exhibits from Hanukkah House in Binghamton, New York - the present one and a past one.  These posts aren't going to be my usual light hearted posts full of flowers and fall foliage.  They will show what happens when good hearted people stay silent.

This is what the last Bradford Pear looked like on December 3, still with most of its foliage. Now, it is bare.  But it is not dead.  Looks are deceiving.  All things willing, it will wake up in the spring, signalling a season of hope.  But what kind of United States will it wake up to?

That is up to us.

You are free to skip my posts on this terrible chapter of history (called the Holocaust or the Shoah) and come back on Monday for Music Mondays.

But I hope you won't.

The Anniversary

In our culture, certain anniversaries of an event are special.  One of those special anniversaries is the 75th.

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, in what is now the state of Hawaii.  We, perhaps, are a world power today (in part) because of that attack.

Every day, more members of the Greatest Generation, the generation of my late parents, pass away. 

On December 7, 2014 I wrote the  blog post below.  Since 2014, more survivors of the USS Arizona, and of Pearl Harbor, have passed away.

The USS Arizona is perhaps the most well known of all the ships and planes destroyed that day.  There were 334 survivors of the sinking of the USS Arizona.  In 2014, when I wrote this post, there were nine survivors.  Now there are five.

As survivors die, some ask to be buried with the sunken ships they served on.

With all the uncertainty in our world today, it is well for us to remember those who have come before us.  This year, some 100 survivors of Pearl Harbor were able to travel there to participate in ceremonies.  In all probability. the 75th anniversary will be the last major anniversary of this event where this will be possible.

Time passes.  Memories fade.  When the memory keepers die, then what?

Here's my post from 2014.

Civil War Sunday - The Last Nine Standing (December 7, 2014)

This December 7, there are nine of them left.  Four of them will be in Oahu today for the last official gathering of the USS Arizona Reunion Association.

Our local newspaper had pictures of each and a brief description of his memory of December 7, 1941.

The faces are lined with age.  They are in their 90's, for the most part.  In not too many more years, the last one will be gone.  Even their website is in danger of shutting down.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, in what would later become the state of Hawaii, causing the United States to enter World War II.

Perhaps the most famous ship to have been lost, the USS Arizona lies just a few feet beneath the water, and it is now a national monument - a must see for anyone visiting Hawaii.

These nine men are the last nine survivors of the Arizona.

Without remembering our history, we would be lost.

So I was curious to find this little historical tidbit while reading about Pearl Harbor today:  Husband E. Kimmel was the  Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on the day of the attack.  He was wounded during the attack by a stray billet.  Then, shortly after the attack, he was relieved of his command, and, to this day, there is a debate regarding whether he should have been relieved of command.

Kimmel's father was a veteran of the Confederate military.  But, on December 7, 1941, that did not matter.

It was also true that the bloodiest day in U.S. Naval history prior to Pearl Harbor was during the Civil War.

Why is it important to remember Pearl Harbor?  Many reasons - this article lists only a few (in one particular point of view. His opinions may or may not reflect mine.)

In my opinion, it is just as important to remember our Civil War, even though it was fought 150 years ago.  When I was born in 1952, only a handful of Civil War veterans were left alive, but it made an impact on me nevertheless.  We are at about the same point with the veterans of World War II.

Without these two wars, our country would be a different place to live.  Our very lives would be different.

They are part of why we are the way we are, for good and for bad.

No matter what country you live in, dear reader, please take a moment and reflect on your personal history.  And hope that, one day, our world can finally achieve peace.