It's Memorial Day and it took Hollywood to remind us that it's more than a day off from work to go shopping or greet the summer vacation season. One could justify them if they appeared later this year, at the actual anniversary of the Japanese sneak attack.
Publicity now means the media are merely pimps for the film.
Nevertheless, the attention paid to the movie does have a positive effect. It reminds us of the cowardliness of the attack, the heroism of those who rallied to the nation's defense, and the sacrifice made by the men and women who survived and those who didn't. Such sacrifices are the reason Memorial Day has been observed since the end of the Civil War, a reason too many Americans have forgotten. Delawareans should have some special interest in Pearl Harbor. Much has been written, including Gary Soulsman's News Journal articles last Friday, about the unfair treatment of Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, the Pacific Fleet commander at Pearl Harbor, and family efforts led by retired Wilmington lawyer Ned Kimmel to clear his name.