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Murphy Martin Commentary
December 7, 2006
"Sixty-Five Years Later"
In many ways it seems like it was
just a few weeks ago when that "day of infamy" happened. The one
that President Franklin D. Roosevelt would give that indelible
label! I was sixteen-years old and playing football with
neighborhood friends when my Dad yelled excitedly to me to "come
listen to the radio...Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor!"
Pearl Harbor Day brings
back vivid memories to people from all walks of life!
It happened 65-years ago today! This week they have been having
still another Pearl Harbor Survivors Reunion in Honolulu. Before
today most of the activities were focused on survivors and scholars
gathered at the Hawaiian Village Hilton Hotel including a Black tie
Dinner on Tuesday evening.
This morning at 7:55A.M....the exact time of the Pearl Harbor
attack....A National Moment of Silence was observed at the Arizona
Memorial and throughout today the National Park Service and the U.S.
Navy will host Pearl Harbor Survivors from across the nation with a
very special tribute in their honor. Special guest speakers, Morning
Colors, wreath presentations, a rifle salute, a Missing Man Flyover
and other tributes were scheduled.
This day always is a vivid reminder of a time when the United states
Government turned to ordinary Americans and asked of them
extraordinary service, sacrifice and heroics....things that led Tom
Brokaw, and others, to call this the Greatest Generation!
That title holds firm,
especially for those of us who lived those days.
It was a time when Moms were at home, Dads were at work. Brothers
went into the army, and sisters got married BEFORE having children.
Crime did not pay; hard
work did; and people knew the difference.
Husbands were loving,
wives were supportive, and children were polite.
Women wore the jewelry,
men wore the pants. Women looked like ladies, men looked like
gentlemen, and children looked decent.
People loved the truth
and hated a lie; they went to church to get IN and not to get OUT.
Cursing was wicked,
drinking was evil, and divorces were unthinkable.
The flag was honored,
America was beautiful, and God was welcome...everywhere!
As we look around us at
the nervous, polarized world of today, that Greatest Generation
is almost beyond belief, unless you were a part of it. Even harder
to believe is how TWO historical events can involve the SAME person!
A friend of mine, who
was a part of history at Pearl Harbor 65-years ago, is back there
today as a specially invited guest.
You perhaps will not
remember him from Pearl Harbor, but you...and the WORLD....will
never forget him. He was the man in the big white western hat,
wearing the light-colored suit and handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald
in 1963 when Jack Ruby murdered Oswald before tens-of- million
television viewers. He is Jim Leavelle, now 86-years young, who was
wounded at Pearl Harbor and met Taime, his wife of 64-years, when he
was shipped back to a west coast Naval hospital for treatment.
The Leavelles are part
of the Greatest Generation...and TWO historical events. We
hope they found time to make this trip a part of an early 65th
wedding anniversary!
As we said earlier, Pearl Harbor Day brings back a variety of vivid
memories for people from all walks of life... and sometimes for
different stories, People from the Greatest Generation were
like that!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
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"Last Minute
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"Standing Tall"
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August 18 - "Network News Anchors"
August 11 - "Now All Three Are Gone"
August 4 - "Trust in the Media"
July 28 - "Television Then and Now"
July 21 - "The Mick"
July 14 - "Forty Years and Counting"
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