REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR

Three quarters of a century ago, the Empire of Japan mounted a naval based air raid on the United States military installations in Hawaii. The main target was the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, but the attackers did not neglect the air strips at Wheeeler and Ford fields. It was a complete surprise in that the Japanese delegation  to Washington was at that very hour meeting with our Secretary of State in talks aimed at preserving peace. 

Every battleship in the Pacific Fleet was damaged. Four, most notably the USS Arizona were sunk. 

2,408 American soldiers and sailors and 68 civilians were killed.

The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt asked for and obtained from Congress a formal Declaration of War. Treaty obligations forced Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to declare war on the United States, and on December 11 1941 we declared war on them, too. 

Less than three and one half years later, Adolf Hitler committed suicide as allied forces closed in on Berlin. Less than three months after that, Japan surrendered after having twice tasted the fire of nuclear weaponry. 

On September 11 2001 these United States were again attacked by surprise, with a similar amount of casualties. The ensuing conflict has gone one nearly four times as long as it took us to beat out three enemies on two fronts in World War II. We need to remember Pearl Harbor, and remember how we brought three well-armed and determined criminal regimes to their knees in three years and nine months - not 15 years and change. 

President-elect Trump, once you are sworn in, remember Pearl Harbor. Let's get busy and finish this.