Evening star., 1942-12-06
A Year of Wur


anese bombers, diving out of the
blue Pacific sky, shattered the quiet
Of Sunday morning at Pearl Har-
Dor and plunged the United States
into war which already had been
in progress since the fall of 1889.
This is a day of sorrow in many
American homes. Thousands of our
fighting men are dead; other thou
sands are prisoners of the enemy.
But this is only the end of the first
year, and all of us can we'll afford
to pause and take stock of what
has been accomplished and of what
remains to be done.
The American people we're far
from ready for war, either physically
or psychologically, when the blow
fell On December the news re-
ports were ominous. One COR
respondent revealed that British
troops had been recalled to their
posts at Singapore-the "Gibraltar
of the Orient" Another dispatch
spoke of the uneasy peace" which
hung over the Pacific But on the
morning or Sunday, December 7, the
picture looked little better. Presi-
dent Roosevelt had taken the un-
precedented step Of addressing
communication directly to Emperor
Hirohito, whose enlissaries in Wash
ington were still talking of Japan's
desire for peace. To be sure, there
we're "disturbing reports of large
Japanese conveys in the Gulf of
Siam, and Informed sources in
Washington let it be known, rather
abruptly, that the next step was up
to Japan.
In all OF this, however, there was
nothing to prepare the people of this
country for the shock that was to
come few hours later; nothing to
indicate to them that Japan actually
had taken the next step" at least
five days before, and that her raid
ing carriers even then were prepar-
ing to launch their planes for the
attack on the American warships
moored in Pearl Harbor.
The assault, when it came, was
truly devastating. Before the Rising
Sun bombers turned away, the fleet
and the air forces on Oahu had
been smashed, and we stood close
to the brink Of disaster. But the
Japanese did not or could not follow
Up their advantage. and so they lost
their great opportunity.
If they had hoped to break the
fighting spirit of the American
people, in addition to knocking out
a major portion of the feet in their
treacherous attack, they failed dis
mally. Prior to last December 7
there was serious disunity in this
country on the issue of the war. But
Pearl Harbor settled that, and also
sealed the ultimate fate of the Jap
anese. The character of their attack
united this Nation as nothing else
could have done, and forged the grim
resolve to see the war through, cost
what it may. In time, Japan will
know what that means.
For a while, as was to be expected,
the war went badly for us. We lost
Wake Island, while writing a bright
new chapter in the history of war.
Then came Bataan, Singapore, the
battle Of the Java Sea, the fall of
the Dutch East Indies and the con-
quest of Burma. Defeat followed de-
feat until, finally, the tide began to
turn. On June IL the Navy an
nounced a victory in the Coral Sea,
and the phrase, scratch one fiat
top" found a place in the American
vocabulary, Next came the great
battle of Midway, Japan's worst naval
defeat; the attack on the eastern
solomons and the subsequent strug-
Gle to maintain our foothold on
Guadalcanal-a successful effort even
while we organized and launched
the significant attack on French
North Africa. In retrospect, we may
take pride in these achievements.
For in the military sense we have
done well-better, certainly, than
our enemies had anticipated.
The record of achievement on the
domestic front gives less ground for
satisfaction. After a year of war,
we fall far short of having the or
ganization required for the magni-
tude of the effort that must be made.
Politics, selfishness, inexperience.
lack of leadership-all have played
their part, Definitely, we are not
over the hump in this aspect Of the
war, and in several respects the out
look Is anything but encouraging.
Still, we are making progress, slowly
and painfully, but progress never
theless. No one can say what the
future holds for this domestic effort.
But we do know that these problems
will not solve themselves, that the
coming year will see US advance no
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