But we forget that most citizens felt pretty safe in 1941 as well. There is no Hitler or Tojo looming on the horizon.
Americans are fascinated by the grandeur and heroism of World War II in part because modern life seems relatively tame and safe today. The moral of the story, at least, is about right: "Pearl Harbor" seeks to portray America's loss of innocence, a Sunday morning in paradise ripped apart by violent deception. The film uses state-of-the-art special effects to convey both the sweep and the devastation of the Japanese surprise attack. It has become perhaps too easy to forget that the so-called Good War killed millions of civilians and was fought by very young men who cried for their mothers when they died.
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The movie burnishes the golden glow around World War II, a vicious slaughter that now seems distant and Olympian, especially in contrast to the moral ambiguity of Vietnam. Or, for that matter, as the epic D-Day film "Saving Private Ryan." To make money on one of the costliest films ever made ($145 million) Disney studios wanted to preserve its PG-13 rating to draw the widest possible audience. "Pearl Harbor," the movie, is bloody, though not as bloody as the real thing. Why didn't the government give us at least five minutes' warning? Or 10 minutes?"Īmericans will get to relive some of James Wire's shock and surprise when they go to the cineplex after Memorial Day. And then I thought, well, the government must've known something was going to happen. "I was so angry that anybody could do that. "I never imagined they would cut out throats," he said. He later concluded they were part of the Japanese plot. Up to then, "we didn't have anything against the Japanese, really." He had liked the Japanese bar girls in Honolulu, "cute little girls, friendly, overly friendly, you know?" Wire recalled. Told to carry the body to the sick bay, Wire refused. One of the dead men pulled from the oily harbor was a Japanese pilot. "It was the most horrible thing I ever saw," said Wire. A quartermaster on the Tennessee went berserk and started tearing his clothes off when he witnessed the carnage. Bodies, stacked up like so many logs, were scorched and hairless the smell of oil and burning flesh filled the air. Wire joined his crewmates trying to pull aboard survivors. Just ahead, the Oklahoma rolled over from torpedo hits, entombing 429 men. Just aft, the Arizona blew up, killing 1,177 men. The battleship West Virginia, moored alongside the Tennessee, sank, with the loss of 106 men. During the next 10 minutes, the quiet anchorage erupted. "I could have hit him with a rock," Wire recalled to NEWSWEEK. But then, on the wing of the plane, he saw a red "meatball"-the rising sun of the Japanese Empire. American pilots sometimes dropped sandbags as they practiced bombing runs on nearby Ford Island. Coming out of the hatch, Wire noticed a plane dropping something. A band was playing the "Star Spangled Banner." Most of the ships' antiaircraft guns were unmanned.
Canvas awnings stretched across decks to provide shade. The eight battleships of the Pacific Fleet were preparing for morn-ing colors and church. 7, 1941, Wire had come on deck of his ship, the Tennessee, to get some sun. Reflecting the racial views all too typical of his time, he regarded the Japanese as incapable of such a bold affront. Step 2: Register to be on the teacher list for the PD activity and ISBE forms.James Wire, ship fitter third class, couldn't imagine that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor. Illinois teachers can earn 1.5 PD credits for watching the presentation and filling out a short PD activity. Menke manages the museum’s Education Department and serves on the museum’s curatorial team. In May of 2019, she was promoted to Curator of Education. Menke joined the staff of the National Museum of the American Sailor as a Contract Curator. MEET THE SPEAKER: Tricia Menke completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in History at Gettysburg College and received her Master of Arts in History with a Museum Studies concentration from University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This presentation will examine events leading up to the attack, how sailors and nurses responded, as well as the aftermath and legacy of the attack that is considered the Navy’s greatest defeat.
The shocking attack and major defeat at Pearl Harbor led was the catalyst for the emergence of a new and determined naval fleet. A Day That Will Live in Infamy: The Attack on Pearl Harbor