Where were you on the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor? I ask, because there is a big difference in attitude between those who remember that day and those who have merely read about it. Even historians get the story muddled.
The attack was a surprise. But the war was not. We saw it coming. We were getting ready for war with authoritarian dictatorships.
The biggest concern in 1939-1940 was, how would western democracies be able to stand up to despots. We never imagined it would be a good idea to become a despotism ourselves.
The morning of the attack, we were living in Tallahassee. My dad had been away at the Louisiana Maneuvers and had just returned two days earlier from the Carolina Maneuvers.
About noon, our landlord knocked on the door.
"The Japs have bombed Pearl Harbor, he announced."
My dad grabbed his B-4 bag and rushed off to the base. We didn't see him for a couple of days, when he came back to pack his foot locker.
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