American Security Today's 2016 CHAMPIONS EDITION Digital Magazine AST 2016 CHAMPIONS EDITION | Page 79

Pearl Harbor ’ s Legacy of Comebacks and Valor by Charles E . Schmidt
Volume 9

Pearl Harbor ’ s Legacy of Comebacks and Valor by Charles E . Schmidt

Guest editorial by Charles E . Schmidt , the national commander of The American Legion
Champions Edition
( The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor , in the United States Territory of Hawaii , on the morning of December 7 , 1941 ( December 8 in Japan ). The attack led to the United States ’ entry into World War II . Courtesy of NewDoc Films and YouTube )
Service , sacrifice and valor were demonstrated by American heroes at unprecedented levels and foreshadowed the trials , toughness and grit that epitomized the Greatest Generation during the Second World War .
Those who did not perish during the attack were not just veterans of battle . They were survivors of an unprovoked and unexpected massive killing spree .
Sixty years after the attack on Pearl Harbor , America was caught off guard once again . September 11 , 2001 was another date that will live in infamy to a new generation of Americans .
President-Elect Trump has promised to rebuild our military so it can have the resources to better defend the United States .
Men like Sterling Cale , who would later serve his country in Korea and Vietnam after surviving numerous battles in the Pacific War .
A 20-year-old pharmacist mate assigned to the U . S . Naval Hospital Pearl Harbor on Dec . 7 , 1941 , Cale attended last year ’ s American Legion Department of Hawaii observances of the attack .
The American Legion supports all efforts that would strengthen our Armed Forces and we look to December 7th as a perfect example of why our nation must always be prepared .
Seventy-five years later most of the witnesses are no longer with us but the legacy of the men and women who defended Pearl Harbor on the day of infamy will always remain . It was a day that defined America and changed the world .
( SGM Sterling Cale remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th , 1941 . Courtesy of Fox Sports and You- Tube )
Nearly three-quarters of a century later , he still recalled the charred bodies and ash that he recovered when he was put in charge of a burial party tasked with removing bodies from the USS Arizona .
“ All black ash . One corpse didn ’ t have a head ,” he said . These are the types of memories that continue to haunt even a battle-hardened veteran that would later serve as a Navy corpsman with the 1st Marine Division at Guadalcanal .
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