Malaya.
Hong Kong.
Guam.
Philippine Islands.
Wake Island.
Midway Island.
And the target Americans put first on this list — Pearl Harbor.
Within twenty-four hours each of these targets, some separated by thousands of miles of ocean, faced military attack by Japan.
Seventy-one years ago today we had hints, indications, and de-coded secret messages that warned us that Japan was intent on continuing their conquests begun several years before. An entire forest of trees has been used to hold the words since written about the events leading up to and including that December Sunday morning in Hawaii. Some of the words cast blame. Other pages record heroic actions by ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. And buried within them, needed to be separated, are words of truth. And warning.
Be alert. Be prepared. Don’t huddle together in one large, ripe target.
