Pearl Harbor Memories

It's a cold and gloomy day in Fredericksburg and the weather reminds me of December 7, 1941 in the Chicago area, but I'll come back to that in a minute or so. Today a large crowd was seated on Austin Street in front of the newly remodeled George H. W. Bush Gallery, a part of the Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War, to witness the rededication ceremony of that greatly expanded facility. Ex-President and Mrs. Bush, Gov. Perry and many other dignitaries were on hand to hear the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps speak and to listen to music provided by the Marine Corps Band. The present director of the Nimitz museum, General Hagee, is the most recently retired Commandant of the Marine Corps. Even with the cold the audience was most enthusiastic and when President Bush asked if there were any Pearl Harbor survivors present it was impressive to see much more than a handful of elderly veterans stand to be recognized. I was twelve and have vivid memories of Pearl Harbor Sunday, as well as the rest of World War II. I can remember our teacher at school the next day bringing a radio to class so that we could hear President Roosevelt address the joint session of Congress and ask that, because of a day that would live in infamy, there be a declaration of war.

But it's the weather now and then that refreshes my memory. That weekend for me meant a boy scout campout and was actually about 13 or 15 degrees colder than here and now. Our troop had left on Friday evening and spent through late Sunday afternoon in an open shelter in a Forest Preserve area south of the city. As I recall, most of our activity was trying to stay warm in the unheated shelters where we camped and making sure the food we cooked could be kept hot enough. Scouts were not allowed to bring radios to campouts, so as I walked into the living room to greet my parents on that Sunday evening I had no idea what had happened in our world that. I can remember my father saying, 'Sit down, there's some really big news you need to know."