The "There Is Always More History To Learn" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Had just opened my email and read a very interesting email sent to me by my friend Sue who I graduated from high school with in...well the date isn't that important...is it?  Sue and her husband Jere have traveled with my wife Carol and I on many adventures in the past 20 plus years.  Now there I go...just gave you some information you didn't really need.  We have taken multiple trips to the Caribbean as well as a few trips to Hawaii.  Sue's email dealt with the trips to Hawaii and our trips to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.  The USS Arizona Memorial is the reason that Pearl Harbor is the number one visitor destination in Hawaii and the USS Arizona Memorial is where your Pearl Harbor experience begins.

The USS Arizona Memorial from the air.

 Millions of people from all over the world come to this majestic setting to see for themselves where WWII began for the United States on December 7, 1941.  Sue attached a story written by John Guy who is a British historian and biographer and has a Master's Degree in history.  John was passing along a story about Pearl Harbor that he says he never knew until he bought a book in the Pearl Harbor gift shop written by Admiral Chester Nimitz titled "Reflections on Pearl Harbor."  John thought it important enough to pass along the following, since he thought we all should know about Admiral Chester Nimitz and his part in the history of our country.  The date was Sunday, December 7, 1941 and Admiral Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington, DC.  

Arriving at the USS Arizona Memorial.

During the concert he was given a note telling him there was a phone call for him.  It was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the line.  He told Admiral Nimitz that he is now the Commander of the Pacific Fleet and needed to go immediately to Hawaii.  Admiral Nimitz landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941.  At the time there was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat that you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.  

View after arrival inside the Memorial.

After arriving he was given a boat tour of the destruction with big sunken battleships and Navy vessels cluttering the waters everywhere you looked.  After returning to the dock, the helmsman of the small boat asked, "Well, Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction.  Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone.  He said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America.  Which do you think it was?"  The young helmsman was shocked by the Admiral's response and asked him "What do you mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?  Admiral Nimitz began his explanation to his young helmsman with:

Mistake #1: The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning.  Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave.  if those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk...we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.   

Mistake #2:  When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships.  It they had destroyed our dry docks, we would've had to tow every one of those ships back to America to be repaired.  As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised.  One tug can pull them over to the dry docks and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America.  And, I already have men ashore anxious to man those ships.

Mistake #3: Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is on top of the ground in storage tanks five miles away over that hill.  One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply.  That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or, God was taking care of America.  

Mr. John Guy said, "I've never forgotten what I read in that little book I bought at the gift shop.  It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it.  In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredreicksburg, Texas...he was born an optimist.  

One of my favorite photographs I took on a visit to the Memorial.

But, any way you look at it...Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.  Seems President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the job.  We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat.  There is a reason that our national motto is, In God We Trust.  Why have we forgotten?  PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY!  IN GOD WE TRUST."  I more than likely will never forget what I just typed.  I, too, had Never heard of the three big mistakes made that fateful day in 1941.  Will I remember them in the future?  Perhaps, but if I don't, it will be because of old age and forgetfulness.  I, like John Guy, love to learn as much about our history as possible, but my mind no longer can remember everything since it is so full of facts that when I learn a new one, an old one must say goodbye.  So "Thank You" Sue for making me make a choice as to which "stuff" I need to discard from my mind to allow me to replace it with what I just learned today.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.