First is a scan of a news item from the Klondike Miner, the newspaper of Skagway, Alaska, published August 4, 1940. It reads, "The Japanese Government objected yesterday to the embargo recently announced by President Roosevelt against exportation of aviation gasoline to countries outside the Western Hemisphere."
Next is an image of a wing salvaged from one of the attacking aircraft that day, with the Rising Sun insignia having been cut away by souvenir keepers.
Posts
I'm sorry to say that until this I'd forgotten today's significance. I usually remember. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteI forgot too. Thanks for the great post.
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say; it gives me a chill.
ReplyDeleteDecember 7th is my mother's birthday -- somewhere in the archives of this house I have a newspaper clipping re: how my mother's fifth birthday party was abruptly ended by the announcement on the radio of the attack on Pearl Harbor...you know, "We interrupt this regular programming to inform you that we are now at WAR!" Well, the article is an embarrassment to my mother because the reporter asked my then five year old mother if she knew who the Japanese were and she proceeded to stretch the outer ends of her eyes using her index fingers and bucked her teeth over her bottom lip to make some sort of horrible face...all the adults, including the reporter were greatly amused by this and it was printed as a light piece in the paper! Thank goodness there was no photo!
ReplyDeleteIn the context of the times, the response to her caricature was understandable. The truth is that Japan's armed forces killed two thousand four hundred and two American servicemen that day, and injured many, many more in a surprise attack.
ReplyDelete