Boalsburg speaker: U.S. must remember lessons of Pearl Harbor

BOALSBURG — On the afternoon of Dec. 7, a group of about 60 people, a color guard of former U.S. Marines and an honor guard from the State College American Legion Post No. 245 gathered on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Japanese navy’s attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The ceremony was held in front of two of the “big guns” of the battleship USS Pennsylvania, which was docked in Pearl Harbor and took a direct hit from a bomb in the attack. In spite of its damage, the Pennsylvania was reported to be the first ship to return fire on the Japanese planes on Dec. 7, 1941.

The speaker for the ceremony was retired U.S. Navy Capt. James Bloom. In his speech, Bloom cited examples of those who were physically on the scene of the attack, but still could not comprehend Pearl Harbor as a target. “Surely, what was unfolding before their eyes was a drill or a mistake,” said Bloom.

Bloom said that, 75 years later, it is right to remember the events at Pearl Harbor.

“Our attention is often directed to the sacrifices made by U.S. servicemen and women on that day,’ he said. ‘There were many, they were selfless, in some cases they saved lives. Indeed, the sacrifices of sailors aboard ships and pilots in the skies were real, and at the same time tragic.”

Bloom said another lesson we need to remember from Pearl Harbor is the danger of complacency and assuming that the rest of the world is just like us.

“Very few in December 1941 believed Pearl Harbor would be the site of an attack. Its defenses were too strong, it was too far from Japan. Any approaching enemy would be spotted by patrols, and especially, why would the Japanese attack us in the first place? Why would anyone, in a world that universally valued life and personal liberty, attack us?

“We discovered to our dismay that the Japanese did not value life, or personal freedom. Their allegiance was to an all-powerful and god-like emperor,” he said. “All personal desires and goals were subservient to a devotion to that emperor.” Bloom noted that Americans were later amazed by kamikaze pilots who felt privileged to give their lives for their emperor, just as today we find equally incomprehensible the motivation of suicide bombers.

“We value peace, love and happiness,” he said. “Indeed, we can be flabbergasted when appeals to those values don’t seem to appease our enemies.

“We remember Pearl Harbor for the selfless sacrifices made this morning by countless American servicemen and women — that is fitting. But, we need to remember Pearl Harbor as well for its lessons of complacency and ego-centrism. Let us never forget Pearl Harbor, and let us never again be victims of the naïve assumption that our values are universal.”

Following Bloom’s speech, a 21-gun salute was fired by the honor guard. Bugler Dave Strouse played taps, saluting the fallen heroes of the Pearl Harbor attack.