What Happened on Dec. 7?

Remnants of war remain with us, although we might not realize they exist. As American veterans look forward to National Pearl Harbor Day this Friday, an ever decreasing group of this county’s residents will gather to revive remembrance of that “Day of Infamy,” Dec. 7, 1941 that made Pearl Harbor like “Remember the Alamo.”
If the day is remembered, or even mentioned, by school children as they go about their studies Dec. 7, I would be very surprised, but heartened. For principals or teachers who may view the Vietnam War as ages ago, World War II is like ancient history. Still, it can hold lessons for those who want to learn from history so they will not relive its horrors. Could even they give a reason to remember that awful day in history when the sleeping United States was jolted to declare that a state of war existed between it and Imperial Japan?
There remains one Pearl Harbor survivor residing in Court House. I am uncertain if there are any others in the county. A spry chap, James Smith, in his 90s yet looks like in his early 70s, was in “Pearl” that fateful Sunday morning because he was an Army boxer. He was there on that tragic day of attack because of a boxing competition.
The last time I bumped into Mr. Smith, he said he felt as good today as he did back then. A runner, he’s proof of Newton’s First Law of Motion, “Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion, while bodies at rest tend to stay at rest.”
We all salute you, Jim Smith, for being a Pearl Harbor survivor, and for your service to this nation, and the service of your fellow veterans.
On Nov. 24, there was a potentially deadly reminder of war close to home. A howitzer shell was unearthed along Route 47 in the Green Creek section of Middle Township as someone was metal detecting. The shell caused Middle Township police to embark on a quick evacuation of nearby homes. Also, as another precaution, traffic was halted on Route 47 from Indian Trail Road to Bayshore Road. Green Creek firefighters were alerted for a special assignment, and the Atlantic City Bomb Squad was summoned.
As with any unexploded ordnance, the shell had to be treated as “live.” Take no chances is the best admonition to the finder of such a weapon of war. The vintage shell was carted off for detonation by the squad.
Those who have lived here for any length of time know that was not the first, nor will it be the last such piece of armament found on Cape May County’s bayshore.
Other shells have been found in Villas, Town Bank, and other places along the Delaware Bay shoreline. That’s because, it’s been told, the Navy used the then-desolate area for target practice. So who knows what other unexploded shells repose beneath the surface waiting for rain or a shovel to unearth them?
Imagine if the shell had exploded while the unsuspecting metal hunter was near it. What a tragedy it could have been, just as earlier findings could have had equally lethal effects.
Think now, of the many places around the world where land mines were placed in time of war, then forgotten, which then come to life and explode, sometimes when innocent children play over them. Every so often, we will read of an unexploded bomb found in England or other places on the European continent. Such things are ever-present reminders of wars’ horrors.
Those who have visited Pearl Harbor where the USS Arizona rests can see the oil that seeps from the still-commissioned battleship. That immense vessel became the tomb of 1,102 crew members of the 1,177 assigned. “That was the greatest loss of life on any U.S. warship in American history.” according to the National Park Service website. Solemn ceremonies will be held Dec. 7 at the memorial they will be attended by aging group of attack survivors.
The park website also states, “There were 1.4 million gallons of fuel on the USS Arizona when she sank. Over 60 years later, approximately nine quarts still surfaces from the ship each day. Some Pearl Harbor survivors have referred to the oil droplets as “Black Tears.”
Just as every war leaves scars on men and women; it leaves scars on the land and sea.
The county Board of Chosen Freeholders passed a resolution Nov. 27 attesting to the observance of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
On that day, “All flags flown over buildings under the jurisdiction of the Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Cape May be flown at half-staff in honor of all of those Americans who served our nation at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.”
That may be all the observance accorded by many of us to those who served, and some died, on that fateful day so far from here. If we are to gain anything from that day it is that wars do not discriminate who are taken and who are spared. Also remember, wars’ scars last a long, long time.