They spent their childhood in the roaring 20’s.  As teenagers they weathered the Great Depression of the 30’s.  Reaching adulthood in the 40’s looked bright until that fateful Sunday afternoon in early December.  Every one from the Greatest Generation remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news, much like those who followed now can tell you where they were and what they were doing when they heard of the Kennedy assassination or 9/11. 

Many people had no idea where Pearl Harbor was or that our Naval Fleet was berthed there.  Yet upon hearing of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, most Americans were filled with rage and a sense of betrayal because of the sneak attack.  The Greatest Generation would have their lives unalterably changed forever. 

On December 8, 1941 they listened to their president, Franklin Roosevelt, make the following address to Congress: 

To the Congress of the United States of America

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Click for full text.

Video of some of FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address to Congress:

 

Over  3,000 lives, both civilian and non-civilian  were lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor.   America had a decimated navy.  The politics of war had kept FDR’s hand off the trigger and had kept us out of the war raging in Europe.  All but one member of Congress voted to declare war on Japan and within a week war had been declared on Germany and Italy.  The United States was fully at war, from the youngest child to the oldest citizen.

Every American went to war in some capacity.  Children helped tend victory gardens, saved their pennies for Vicotry stamps and gathered scrap metal.  Old ladies wrapped bandages for the Red Cross.  Community volunteers, usually pretty young women,  met trains carrying troops with coffee. cigarettes and snacks.  Civilians watched planes. Women went into the work force by the millions, taking up jobs formerly held by men who had gone to war.  Civilians were deprived of basic foods and staples like butter, sugar, beef, and were issued ration books.  Gasoline was rationed.   Silk used for stockings  soon went to the troops, for parachutes.  People were asked to donate their iron fences to the war effort.  Most people bought war bonds to help finance the cause.  Americans had air drill drills and practiced black outs at night. 

There has been no war since WWII where Americans have been totally immersed in the war effort.  We have not been asked to sacrifice in our every day lives like those of the WWII generation, unless  one is a military family of course.  In fact, we could go along quite easily and really never be bothered with our wars.  We have had very little personal inconvenience.  We have suffered no shortages,our  gasoline flows, and often our school children don’t even know we are at war.  Our wars are financed and paid for by the subsequent generations.  There are no great drives for war bonds or to finance our causes. 

Perhaps that is why the Greatest Generation, the term penned by Tom Brokow, was indeed the greatest.  They gave their all with every ounce of their being.  They were throw into a horrific war on December 7.  Over 13 million Americans served.  Approximately 500,000 lost their lives.  Many suffered life-altering wounds.   Many children grew up without a father. Many lie buried on foreign soil.  Some came home with emotional battle scars that have crippled them.  Others came home, went to college on the G.I. Bill and threw themselves back into normalcy.  So many of the Greatest Generation would deny they were.  Most felt they were just doing what was expected of them as Americans.

What made the Greatest Generation the GREATEST?  Or was it the greatest?  What sets that generation apart from others and especially those who followed?

Photographs of the Pearl Harbor Attack

Link to other WWII Memorial Pictures

 

World War II Memorial in Washington DC

19 Thoughts to “The Greatest Generation 12/7/1941”

  1. Poor Richard

    “Unaware of the bombing of Hawaii and war in the pacific, the bulk of
    the 27,102 in Griffith Stadium sat through the 2 1/2 – hour plus game,
    thrilling to see three touchdowns passes by Sammy Baugh in a
    victory over the Eagles.

    For a few in the crowd there became a hint of something in the air.
    Important people were being paged, to many to make it a coincidence.
    Redskin officials, appraised of the situation, refused to permit a public
    address annoucement of the outbreak of war. ‘We didn’t want to
    contribute to any hysteria’, said General Manager Jack Espey.”

    All Those Mornings At The Post
    by Shirley Povich

  2. They probably did everyone a favor just letting them see the game.

    Well, apparently the Greatest Generation isn’t so great here on Anti, judging from comments or lack of them.

    Most of our foreign policy today is based on decisions made at the end of WWII.

  3. Poor Richard

    Perhaps, in our hearts, we know we don’t measure up to the Greatest
    Generation – they fought a much worse economic storm and a far
    larger war than we face – and THEN they kicked off the longest
    period of prosperity in history, helped their foes off the ground,
    and stood up to communism. Oh, and had a boat load of babies
    (including me).

    They had leaders like FDR that would lay it on the line. WE are in
    trouble, but WE are a great country and WE will work and sacrifice
    together for victory. WE!

    Less than 2% of Americans are directly impacted by the Afghan and
    Iran war. It is time again for , “blood, sweat, and tears”, fairly
    shared by all Americans, to assure victory.

  4. Witness Too

    Richard, thanks for the great insights and information. The Greatest Generation is great because of their courage. They were not perfect, and they left us our share of problems to solve, but in the face of great challenges they came though with flying colors.

    One thing I thought about in hearing the Pearl Harbor Address was that it wasn’t a stretch to say we should enter WWII, the way it was to say we should fight in Vietnam, Korea, or Iraq. There was no exaggeration necessary. No domino theories. No WMD cartoons. No imagery involving mushroom clouds used for psychological terrorism. The war was upon us and it was time to fight.

    I agree that there should be more shared sacrifice for the wars we are fighting today. I’m afraid that politics and war are strange bedfellows, but since Vietnam had some a tremendous impact on American politics, it seems like today we are trying to steer clear of most of that by not having a military draft, for instance, and not asking any more of the public other than to go shopping and have patience.

    Perhaps we could ask people to contribute work to the war effort, but we now have a military industrial complex that builds all the weapons and machinery. There is little for the general public to do other than go shopping and have patience. Of course, we could endure some sort of war tax to pay for the war, but that seems to be asking a bit much isn’t it? Shopping, patience, AND extra taxes?

  5. Witness Too

    M-H, perhaps the silence on this thread is shame. Shame that we pale in comparison, and the causes for which we are asked to sacrifice or so much murkier and difficult to justify.

  6. Poor Richard

    ” The slumber of small town America was interrupted on December 7, 1941
    with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

    – I was listening to the Redskins football game Sunday afternoon on the
    radio when the annoucement came. I told my parents ‘ I’m too young.
    I won’t get in this war’. And I spent 32 months in the service.
    Dr. Alvin Conner

    – It was right before Christmas. The Manassas Women’s Club was putting
    on a pageant. Something to do with peace.
    Virginia Carper ”

    Echoes of Manassas
    by Charles A. Mills

  7. Poor Richard, thanks for all your imput. The Baby Boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964 inclusively by most counts. There are 78 million of us. Is the rest of America ready?

    I don’t think we should feel shame per se, Witness, but we should give recognition to those people–every day of our lives. They were much like us except they didn’t feel the sense of entitlement that most of us felt. We expect to be safe and to have peace. I don’t think those folks did. They knew that freedom wasn’t free. It was assumed.

    Most of our wars have been left overs from either WWI or WWII. WWI was the war to end all wars. WWII spawned Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War big time, and every other conflict. Middle East Conflict all can be traced back to WWI (and WWII).

    World leaders had to compromise and everyone was too exhausted to fight the USSR.
    Winston Churchhill wanted to (see where it got him) and Patton (see where it got him) both were very vocal about the dangers of the USSR.

    After 9/11 I asked my mother if they had any idea on 12/7/41 how much their lives would be altered. She said NO, they had no idea. She was also horribly upset that ‘we had allowed ourselves to be attacked again’ on 9/11.

  8. Witness Too

    Allowed ourselves to be attacked. Well, there is some validity to the statement “who could have imagined” by Connie Rice. I couldn’t have.

    I think right after 9/11 I was prepared for my life to change. But then gradually it became clear that the war effort, and the Iraq diversion would both be passed off to future generations to pay for, there would be no draft, and all we were required to do to stay safe was vote Republican. I actually did in 2002 but not in 2004 nor ever again to this day. Lies intended to frighten us about national security are hard to forgive. I will never fully recover from the double whammy of 9/11, and then the abuse of trust that followed as Cheney and Bush decided to exploit the tragedy politically rather than meet it’s challenges.

  9. kelly3406

    @Witness Too
    Your statements about “lies intended to frighten” are among the silliest that I have read on this blog. The attack on December 7, 1941 was not prevented due to a massive intelligence failure. The attack on 9/11/2001 was not prevented due to a massive intelligence failure. The attack by the United States against Iraq was intended to prevent a WMD attack but was based on faulty intelligence that on Iraqi WMD programs. The Fort Hood attacks by Hasan were not prevented due to a massive intelligence failure.

    Call me crazy, but perhaps there might be a trend here …..

  10. kelly3406

    The WWII generation made great sacrifices, but I am not necessarily ready to call it the greatest generation. There was great outrage following Pearl Harbor that created unity and desire to defeat the Japanese and Germans (just as there was after 9/11). But would the WWII generation have been as unified if Pearl Harbor had occurred after the Korean and Vietnam Wars? Would the people have been as unified if TV had brought the horrors of war to their living rooms as was done for Vietnam?

  11. Punchak

    When the call came to fight then, all the young men WANTED to be in the military. They lined up. My husband was in college, but left to sign up as did all his buddies. A few didn’t make it due to physical “shortcomings” and they were very, very disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to join the troups.

    The big difference, I believe, is that we KNEW who the enemy was during WWII, and the enemy was evil. We KNEW that too, which made it desirable to join up. Everybody back home supported them 100%. – Can you imagine what would happen if rationing of any kind would be suggested today?

    Bonusom WWII are the many wonderful songs that were written:

    “I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places…”
    “I left my heart at the stagedoor canteen…”
    “I’ll never smile again until I smile at you.”
    “There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover
    And the one I love:

    “When the lights go on again,all over the world
    and the boys are home again; all over the world”

    Those who made it back were given education and housing assistance. Think how many poor guys, who’d never have been able to go to college if it hadn’t been for the war? Ad the blacks were able to get jobs and education even though segregation was still a disgusting fact. There were jobs to be had; the schools were pretty good and there was still civility in society.

  12. Witness Too

    I would be surprised, Kelly, if it turned out I was the only person on earth who suspects we were lied to when the Bush administration made the case for invading Iraq. If my post was the first expression of that sentiment, the fact-free bubble you keep yourself must be bullet proof. All I can say is wow.

  13. Witness, my mother was in her mid-80’s when she said that to me about ‘Allowed ourselves to be attacked.’ I assumed she meant that our nation let its guard down…again.

    Punchak, I know not all the young men wanted to go fight. I am sure my father would have rather stayed home with his bride of 6 months. I don’t think he was alone in feeling this way.

    Kelly, I think there is a huge difference between WWII and Korea or Vietnam. From what I was able to determine from eavesdropping Korea was just resented. Many of those who had returned from WWII were called up again for Korea. Vietnam…well no way. It wasn’t until the atomic bomb was dropped that the USA even knew it was going to win.

    Our homeland had been attacked. Such was not the case with Korea or Vietnam.

    I will accept that they were the greatest generation. If Tom Brokaw says it…..

  14. Wolverine

    “The Greatest Generation” — now disappearing rapidly into the mist of our national history. I was a mere infant of several months on 7 December 1941, my wife not yet born. But we both remember snippets from those days — things like the ration books; the difficulty in getting gas and tires for your car; playing in the Victory Garden at home; the men suddenly appearing in all kinds of different uniforms and saying goodbye; the ladies of the family going into the factories to help make tanks and bombs and bombers.

    Most of our own men who came back never spoke much about their experiences until very late in life, when they became the object of pursuit by genealogists and family historians like ourselves. Only then did we find that an uncle, long known to have been killed in action in France, had sacrificed his life to save a comrade on the battlefield and was given posthumously the Cross of Valor. Another had ridden atop a battle tank into Rome on that city’s liberation day. A third had been in the Battle of the Bulge and painfully carried German artillery shrapnel in both legs for all of his remaining days. Others had been aboard ship in the Pacific. One of them had actually met MacArthur. Another came back from Pacific sea duty to help train Navy pilots on the USS Sable in Lake Michigan. One of those pilots was a very young man named George Herbert Walker Bush. Another uncle was in China fighting alongside the Nationalist Chinese forces against the Japanese Army. Several underwent the agony on the beach at Anzio. Others were in the fight to retake the Philippines. They were all over the world. And, when they came home, they were the silent ones, reluctant to speak of it , not trying to make themselves out as heroes, saving their memories for the VFW or American Legion halls. They married, went back to work and lived out their lives quietly as husbands and fathers and grandfathers. By my count we have only two of them left in our family. But we have tried to make sure through our own work that our children and our grandchildren and those who may come after will remember them all through the old photographs and the stories they finally told to us.

    Funny story. My youngest uncle, on his way to the train depot, came to our house to say goodbye. He was wearing his brand new Army uniform. We were out in the Victory Garden when he came by. A young tot, enjoying the unexpected visit, picked up a tomato and gave it a toss. The tomato landed on the front of the uncle’s new uniform, leaving a big, messy splotch. Almost 25 years later, that young tot had grown and was wearing a military uniform himself. He and some friends were on weekend liberty from Navy OCS in Newport, Rhode Island. We went up to Boston and had lunch in a nice restaurant. One of the friends had trouble getting ketchup out of the bottle and smacked the bottle on the bottom. I looked down at my white Navy shirt and saw that it was covered with tomato-red splotches. To this day, I still call it “Uncle’s Revenge”!!

  15. kelly3406

    Witness Too :
    I If my post was the first expression of that sentiment, the fact-free bubble you keep yourself must be bullet proof. All I can say is wow.

    I kept briefing materials handed out in late 2001 and early 2002 from the National Defense University, one of the War Colleges, and the United Nations that presented unclassified assessments of Iraqi capabilities. These assessments were produced independently of the Bush administration, but were very consistent with claims made by the administration during the build-up to war.

  16. Wolverine, I am glad you are back. What a wonderful account. I love the uncle’s revenge story.

    My husband came along a few months after you did. I keep telling him he isn’t a baby boomer.

    My mother wrote her memoirs of the war when she was in her 80’s. I hope she knows how much I have enjoyed reading them. In the first place, it is interesting to see one’s parents as a couple rather than as parents. Her sense of history has always been remarkable.

    Thanks for adding your remarks to this thread.

  17. I don’t think most of the WWII generation expected a memorial. When I have visited there and spoken with some of the old vets, I never got the impression that anyone ever thought, “Well, it’s about time!”

    On a lighter note, some of the expressions that we accept as part of our everyday language were generated during that war. I found out about some of them from my mother’s book. And to think we arrogant kids thought WE had invented them.

  18. Wolverine

    Sometimes I think that the generation before the so-called “Greatest Generation” may merit the title more. Yes, the “Greatest Generation” lived through the Depression, won the war, and built the country in the 1950’s. However, it was their parents who really suffered the agonies of the Depression. My maternal grandfather lost three jobs during that period and, when he could find work, sometimes walked 15-20 miles to get there because he could not afford a car and there was inadequate public transportation. He tried to feed his family by growing a large garden but finally had to swallow his great personal pride and join Roosevelt’s WPA. My grandmother refused to eat until everyone at the family table had partaken of the sparse meals, and my mother tells me that sometimes she could hear my grandmother weeping alone her bedroom because of her love and fears for her family. Yet, both these parents insisted that the children stay in public school to seek an education rather than look for small jobs to help the family. The kids certainly did try. One uncle however, complied only as long as he could before dropping out of school and joining the Civilian Conservation Corps. He was the star of his high school football team and had just been elected team captain for the coming season.

    My grandfather and men like him really suffered in their self-esteem and spirit because they felt so helpless. Author Caroline Bird once wrote that the terrible times experienced by these men gave them an “invisible scar” which they carried with them the rest of their lives. And their womenfolk suffered along with them. Yet, they never gave up. Somehow in all that adversity they managed to raise, teach, and guide the next generation which went on to do what we all now laud so much. To me that is an astounding accomplishment and one which perhaps deserves the title of “greatest” even more.

  19. Perhaps we could blend the generations. You make a compelling argument for that generation being included. Those that managed to hold a family together during the Depression certainly should not be slighted.

    My maternal grandparents were comfortably situated for the Depression. They certainly weren’t rich but they weren’t poor either. My grandfather was a city manager. My mother said she never felt deprivation as a kid, even though people tightened their belt. I don’t know that much about my father’s parents. My grandparents lost their first child. I don’t believe my grandmother ever recovered from that loss, even though she lived to be 105.

    My husband, on the other hand, has grandparents who were immigrants. The German grandfather died of the Spanish Flu in 1918. He left an Irish widow with 4 daughters. The youngest was 3. The Irish grandmother somehow managed to end up with 2 college graduates when all was said and done. How does one do that? How does an Irish immigrant with one leg very much shorter than the other, who is a seamstress by profession, raise 4 girls during the Depression? My mother-in-law graduated from Smith College.

    Wolverine, you might be right. The Greatest Generation producted a bunch of spoiled brat kids who had a strong sense of entitlement. We were movers and shakers but I doubt if it was all for the good.

    Let’s just combine the generations. I would have no idea where one generation stopped and the next started anyway.

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