On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called December 7, “a date which will live in infamy.”
December 7 and the words of his Infamy Speech have become synonymous with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Within an hour of that speech, Congress passed a Declaration of War thrusting the United States headlong into World War II.
Roosevelt’s words had a profound an impact on our nation. Recruiting stations were jammed with surges of volunteers. And, when World War II ended, the world was not the same.
Pearl Harbor was before my time. Thirty years after Pearl Harbor another event occurred giving us a new date I will always remember– September 11, 2001. Once again a day of infamy changed our world dramatically.
My heart rate still surges on the 9-11 anniversary as I recall waiting to know all our family members were safe . I have vivid memories of watching Katy Couric describe the planes crashing into the Twin Towers.
Those same memories return to bounce around in my head every 9-11. We’d had lunch in the Towers with family members only two months before. That made the terrorist attack more personal.
It’s been fifteen years now, but no matter how long it’s been from either date of infamy, one thing remains constant.
Nearly 3,000 people in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania lost their lives on 9-11, 2001. World War II causalities numbered over 60 million.
Pausing on the anniversaries of both events allows us to honor those we’ve lost.
Those brave young people changed the world. They left us with a legacy of liberty and dignity. Someone profoundly said that those few did so much for so many.
I can’t even imagine the courage of that generation.