"A DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY"

So spoke President FDR to Congress on December 8, 1941. The "date" was the day before, December 7, 1941. So what does this have to do with racing? Plenty actually if you go through the rolls of our esteemed pioneers in this sport and find the names of those who fought in the war either in Europe, North Africa or the Pacific Theaters. Although there was stock car racing BEFORE the war, as is so often documented on the Tuesday night radio show here by our own Cody Dinsmore, what happened to the sport AFTER the war was largely due to the never give up attitudes of the individuals who pioneered the sport. The same never give up attitudes that prevent us from pledging allegence to the flag of the rising sun or saluting the maniac from Germany.

But, I want to point out that the "Date that will live in infamy" if fading in the pages of history. I heard a news reporter, young guy, on the early news this morning, tell how the "Japanese JETS" blazed from the sky to attack Pearl Harbor. There were no Jets then. That report was followed by an interview with a 91 year old Pearl Harbor survivor who actually choked up as he said this will be THE LAST YEAR that the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association will meet in Pearl Harbor on this date. There are few remaining survivors, but as that man pointed out, the history books in our schools now devote less than a half page to the attack and half of that half page is a picture of the U.S.S. Arizona just before she sank. The vet was with a teenager at the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor and the kid had absolutely NO IDEA of why that monument was there.

I was not around on December 7, 1941, but my father, then a 19 year old in upstate New York, joined the U.S. Army the next day which brought him to Ft. Jackson, SC (then Camp Jackson) for basic training where he met my mother, a local Columbia girl, and they married before he left to fight in the Pacific from September, 1942, until the end of the war.

So, folks, as this day unfolds before us, along about 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time today, remember that it was 70 years ago then that the Japs dove from the skies in a "deliberate attack upon the air and naval forces of the United States" and our country was at war. Remember all the men and women who fought to preserve our freedom and those who continue that fight today. Truly, December 7, 1941, should live in infamy and in the memories of all Americans who treasure our freedom.

God Bless America.

Remember.

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I can remember it well. I was 13 years old. My cousin who was my mentor at the time joined the Marines the next day. He lost both his legs Iwo Jima.

People today don't realize how bad it was. The USA was not prepared.

My Uncle was Drafted at 44 years old.

I heard today that after this year, the Pearl HarborSurvivor's Association was being disbanded, sad.

No Jim, they don't. I've often heard Raymond Parks tell the story of basically living a fox hole, or something of that size, that barely covered their backs and heads from debris and bullets.

I don't know how many are left, but you'd think that the association would consider doing it until there's just a handful of people left. Now some are older and that's a factor, and plus like you said, all the way to Hawaii must take a lot of money... It's still a shame though I think.

Words of Wisdom.

R.I.P. all you brave men and women who gave it all for our freedom. My dad and my father-in-law, both deceased served in WWII.

My father-in law, Tom, of Wilson, NC was awarded the Silver Star in Germany:

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/search/pframe.asp?HonoreeID=15...

Dad, from Richmond & Danville, VAserved in the South Pacific, specifically on Guadalcanal:

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/search/pframe.asp?HonoreeID=15...

It is, of course, opinion, but I hope you and Jeff will indulge a little bending of the "Rules of Engagement" for me to post this column that appeared nationally on the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. Beyond the opiniion, it paints a vivid portrait of how our leaders and families spent Christmas Eve following the attack on Pearl Harbor. If anyone is in the least offended by this column, I shall gladly delete it, but I hope you might enjoy this glimpse back as much as I did when I read it:

Lessons in leadership: 70 years after Pearl Harbor
By Leonard Pitts Jr. The Miami Herald

A thin fragment of moon stood watch that Christmas Eve as the president of the United States and the prime minister of Great Britain came out onto the south portico of the White House. They were there to light the national Christmas tree and to speak a holiday greeting to an uncertain world.

Two and a half weeks before and 70 years ago today the Japanese had devastated the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. A nation that had endured 12 grinding years of economic catastrophe was now plunged into a maelstrom of worldwide war. It was Christmas in time of turmoil, a season of brotherhood and peace under the shadow of genocide and war and it fell to these two men to help the nation and the world make sense of that.

These times, thank God, are not like those. Though the nation finds itself mired in the worst economic disaster since the depression of the 1930s, though it fights multiple wars, though terrorism is an ever-present menace, America faces no existential danger, no threat to its very survival, as it did 70 Christmases ago.

Which is not to say these are easy times. If Americas continued existence is not in doubt, there is, nevertheless, fear of the shape that existence will take. America seems diminished by her woes. Besides the wars, besides the economy, besides the terror, there are the schools which are not educating, the infrastructure, which is cracking, the debt, which is ballooning, the anger, which is boiling, the divisions, which are widening.

And there is the hope, which is fading. In May, a Gallup poll found optimism for the future has fallen to record lows. Just 44 percent of Americans believe todays youth will have better lives than their parents.

Is there anything more redolent of America than optimism? When it is lost, something essential to the nations character is, too.

No, these times are not like those. In that America, people girded for sacrifice and sang new Christmas carols that rang bittersweet with uncertainty. Ill be home for Christmas, went one, if only in my dreams. Another said, Someday soon we all will be together if the fates allow.

In our America, people pepper spray or trample one another to get deals on video games and DVD players.

But both Americas were challenged, both shaken, both reached a years end in the shadow of a future that loomed foreboding and grim. As we wait to see how this America will respond, it is good to recall how that one did. .

Against enemies who preach the principles of hate and practice them, said Roosevelt, we set our faith in human love and in Gods care for us and all men everywhere.

Let the children have their night of fun and laughter, said Churchill. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grownups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern task and the formidable years that lie before us, resolved that, by our sacrifice and daring, these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.

Radio carried their words around the globe. Thousands more were there in person, standing beneath the shining tree. Under a rind of moon in a time of war, they gazed up, and were bathed in Christmas light.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/06/2534552/lessons-in-leadership...