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NOW WE KNOW…

12/10/2018

In my last blog, posted on Pearl Harbor Day, I pointed out the importance of remembering the men and women who sacrificed so much for our freedom.

Little did I know what would appear in the news the very next day. It seems as if several families may now get the closing they have sought for nearly eight decades. Advances in modern forensic science, particularly in DNA reclamation and analysis, have now made it possible to identify some of the service personnel who lost their lives that fateful day.

In an article posted on Fox News, writer Perry Chiaramonte tells us that nearly 2,400 members of the U.S. military were killed in the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. And out of that number, 429 Sailors and Marines were killed on the Battleship USS Oklahoma. It famously capsized after it was struck by several torpedoes during the infamous December 7th, 1941 attack.

It seems that only 35 were identified in the years immediately after the attack. The ship itself was raised in 1942 and remains of the rest were exhumed and found to be unidentifiable. Thereafter, they were interred in graves marked as “Unknown” at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

He goes on to explain that In 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency started exhuming nearly 400 sets of such remains after a determination had been made that forensic science and genealogical research from families had advanced to the point that identifications were now possible.

As of December of this year, 186 Sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma who were previously marked as “Unknown” have now been successfully identified!

I praise the Lord that this has now unfolded. If at all possible, not one single one of these individuals deserves to go unidentified. Hollywood CGI notwithstanding, one cannot begin to imagine what all they went through! I am confident that each and every individual who perished that fateful day did his (or her) best in their moment of destiny!

They fought hard; they gave all they had; and they died gloriously in defense of this great nation! And they now deserve the recognition they have been deprived of for so long!

At the same time, I am reminded in this that there are a great many more untold deeds of bravery and valor! The men and women who died at Pearl Harbor are not alone. All throughout history, innumerable individuals have given their all for a greater cause and the good of their fellow man, only to have their deeds and their names go unrecorded by posterity.

For this reason, I cannot wait till that day in Heaven when the books are finally opened and the deeds of all such heroes are finally made known. No doubt, on that day, we will finally be able to say: “Now we know!”

STORY SOURCE: https://www.foxnews.com/us/pearl-harbor-sailors-finally-laid-to-rest-77-years-later-thanks-to-dna-testing.
SEE ALSO: Revelation 20:11-15.

WORTH REMEMBERING

12/7/2018

I am writing this on December 7, 2018, the 77th anniversary of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asserted at the time would a be a date that would live in infamy. As I have shared on previous blogs that fell on this calendar date, I hope I will always be mindful of the great sacrifice laid down by so many that eventful day on behalf of this great nation in which we live.

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Channel has spent the day showing several wonderful period films relating to this significant historical event. In the months and years immediately after its occurrence, Hollywood did her part to help mobilize America for defense by producing quite a few wonderful, if now all but forgotten, classic films.

Today’s line-up has included December 7th: The Movie (a 1943 documentary style film designed to educate the public on the events leading up to the attack), Air Force ( another 1943 movie chronicling the crew of a B-17 bomber named the “Mary Ann” as she arrived from the U.S. mainland just as the attack was occurring, as well as her additional action in the war), and the 1944 classic, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (about Colonel Doolittle’s heroic retaliatory bombing raid on Japan just a little over four months after Pearl Harbor).

I highly recommend these films, as they were all made during the war itself. For this reason, they give the viewer a little of the sense of uncertainly that still pervaded the American psyche at the time. After all, victory in World War Two would not come for another year or two; and the outcome was in no way certain at the time.

Many in the modern era are more familiar with the story of what happened on December 7, 1941 due to its retelling in the 2001 epic war film, Pearl Harbor, starring Bren Affleck and Josh Hartnett and a whole host of a-list actors. This film portrays the days leading up to Pearl Harbor, the attack itself, the immediate aftermath, and the response of America in her first few months into World War Two, culminating in the bombing of Japan by Doolittle’s Raiders.

As I have shared before in earlier posts, Japan attempted a sweeping conquest of the Pacific, with well-coordinated and near simultaneous Japanese attacks on the U.S. held Hawaiian and Philippine Islands, as well as Guam and Wake Island, along with portions of the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

However, Japanese forces failed in at least two major objectives in the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. While America suffered terrible losses in life and among her battleships, the failure of Japan to finish off the numerous fuel reserves stored nearby and, even more consequential, to catch the United States’ aircraft carriers at anchor in Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941 were blunders that would soon prove catastrophic.

What is more, of the twenty-one ships damaged or lost in the attack, all but three were eventually repaired and returned to service by U.S. forces. Thus, what may have seemed like a decisive pre-emptive strike by Japan soon turned into a Pyrrhic victory at best!

Accordingly, six months after Pearl Harbor, on May 4-8, 1942, America essentially fought Japan to a draw in the first ever battle between aircraft carriers, each sinking one carrier of the other’s fleet. One month later, on June 4-6, 1942, in the Battle of Midway, America won a decisive victory, sinking four Japanese carriers against only one carrier lost. Even more significantly, the Japanese had 248 aircraft destroyed and over 3,000 killed, many of whom were their most seasoned pilots.

From that day forward, barely seven months after Pearl Harbor, Japan was on the defensive as America began an island-hopping campaign across the Pacific that eventually reclaimed all the territory Japan had conquered and ultimately led to the defeat of Japan and the occupation of her home islands.

But in the dark days immediately after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew that his fellow Americans were struggling with fear, doubt, and the specter of defeat. As a leader, he understood that it was his job to find a way to inspire them. So he set his cabinet the task of finding some way to retaliate against Japan and give the American people the all-important boost in morale that they so desperately needed.

The result was a surprise raid in April, 1942, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle and consisting of Sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium range bombers that were launched without fighter escort from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean.

The bold plan called for flying over Japan, dropping bombs on major targets, and then flying on to China before eventually landing in non-Japanese occupied territory. Unfortunately, the U.S. Fleet was sighted and the bombers had to be launched at a far greater distance than anticipated, thus limiting fuel supply.

Many planes finished the mission with little or no fuel, with most crashing far short of their desired landing spots and into Japanese occupied territory. After many harrowing experiences, all but three of the eighty crew members survived and eventually made it back home.

While the mission inflicted very little actual military destruction itself, the damage to the collective psyche on the Japanese due to an attack on their homeland that they had heretofore considered impregnable was considerable.

More to the point, the effect on America’s morale was tremendous. The Doolittle raid, carried out by brave men, conceived by top brass, and inspired by a true leader was of incalculable significance to the outcome of World War Two.

I conclude by sharing a link to a classic scene from the above mentioned 2001 movie, Pearl Harbor. In this scene, Josh Hartnett portrays a pilot named "Danny" who had earlier survived Pearl Harbor and has just flown in the Doolittle Raid, and who has now crash landed in occupied China and been taken prisoner. The Japanese are about kill his best friend “Rafe”, portrayed by Ben Affleck. The imagery is powerful, and also deeply theological, as Danny, lashed to a wooden crossbeam, willingly sacrifices his own life in order to save that of his friend, Rafe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TasKTohEbaI (Beginning at 1 minute, 50 seconds of the overall 4 minute, 10 second clip).

I cannot watch this scene without being reminded, first of the sacrifice of so many one my behalf in order that I might enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! Untold Americans in every generation have placed themselves in harm’s way in order that you and I might live and prosper in the land of the free and the home of the brave! May we never forget their sacrifice!

In like manner, on an infamous day in history known as “Good Friday”, another Individual gave His life in order that you and I might have life, and have it to the full. That Individual was God’s Son, Jesus Christ, Who allowed Himself to be lashed and nailed to the beam of a cross, where He willingly sacrificed His life for our freedom from sin and its consequences. In so doing, He set us free not only for this world, but for all eternity.

On this anniversary of the “Day of Infamy”, may we ever be faithful to express our appreciation to Him as well! For not only did He give us the principle that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”; He also demonstrated it for us by doing this very thing! And that, my friends, is worth remembering!

SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/john/15-13.htm.

MISSING PERSONS

12/3/2018

Dr. Tony Evans once told the story of a mother who knew of who was having a gathering to celebrate the birth of her newborn son. She invited a bunch of friends over to celebrate his arrival. She welcomed her guests, and they all had a great time celebrating, eating, and drinking. After a while, one of the ladies said, “Well, bring the baby out. Let us see it.”

The mother went to get the baby from his crib – he was nowhere to be found. She started to panic and to feel fearful. And the, she suddenly remembered that the baby was still at her parents’ house, where she had left him earlier that morning. She and the guests had been having so much fun that they had forgotten what the party was all about in the first place.

Dr. Evans is quite right in his concluding observation: “During the Christmas season, many people get busy with celebration and forget that the birth of Jesus Christ is the reason for the season.” For the little baby boy in Dr. Evans’ story was in effect a “missing person” at the event intended to celebrate his very own birthday.

In like manner, very often, in the modern celebration of Christmas, there is often yet another “Missing Person”, and that individual is the very Son of God, Jesus Christ, Himself, Whose birthday this holiday is designed to celebrate in the first place!

It is possible to see decorations, hear music, view movies, attend functions, and even repeat rituals at Christmas time and yet never even hear or see the person of Jesus Christ referenced.

While this approach to the celebration of Christmas might well be expected by the secular world, it should never be embraced by those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.

This year, as the Christmas season unfolds, it is fitting that we who bear the name of Christian celebrate in part by undertaking the various customs and festivities that are associated with the time of year. At the same time, let us be careful to remember why we even celebrate Christmas to begin with. Let us be careful not to overlook Jesus Christ on His birthday!

STORY SOURCE: Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More Than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009), p. 60.

NOW WE KNOW…

WORTH REMEMBERING

MISSING PERSONS

Cleo E. Jackson, III

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