Commentary of 12/5/2013
REMEMBER
PEARL HARBOR DAY
December 7. A date we
should honor as much as we
do many others, if not more. The day that our nation was
rudely awakened to the reality
of a devastated Pearl Harbor,
the Japanese attack, and the
larger world war in which an
estimated 48 MILLION people
perished, 21 million of whom
were military, 27 million civilian! (Source: warchronicle.com/
numbers/WWII/deaths.htm) We
cannot even comprehend such
a number. For perspective, the
population of California in 2013
is estimated at 38½ million.
Our nation was unprepared
for war and completely surprised. As my dad (Ernie Gommel) would tell us many times,
this country was galvanized into
action, starting from nothing,
but we rolled up our proverbial
sleeves, and without computers
or electronic technology, put our
economy on a wartime basis
almost overnight. Production
was changed to war materiel;
railroads became dedicated to
military transport; ration cards
were issued; people pitched in
to help however they could.
The blessings of our heritage,
our physical resources, our capabilities as a people, came together in an almost miraculous
way so that we entered the war
unready but willing to make the
effort to get ready and to fight
for a just cause. It may sound
naïve in the cynical present,
but back then we were simple
enough to believe in right and
wrong, in good and in evil, and
we were wise enough to be
able to tell the difference. Our
country was seen as a good,
yes, a great country, fighting to
defeat tyranny and oppression
of the worst sort. Our soldiers
had a relatively clear mission: to fight to win and beat the
[enemies]. When it was all over, we
spent even more resources to
help the defeated nations clean
up and rebuild. When in history
has that happened? When
has a victorious nation turned
around after a war and helped
the former enemy recover from
the war?
In broader terms, when
has there ever been a nation
dedicated to help other nations
in any number of crises, from
tsunamis to earthquakes to
famines and disease? What
other nation has been given the
capability and spiritual mindset to offer such assistance? None. Not one. So back to December 7 and
World War II. And Korea, Viet
Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and
many more unnamed places. We owe a huge debt to those
people who fought in those
wars. We have a responsibility to them to carry on where
they left off, to keep the flame
lit, the flame of freedom and
liberty and of American exceptionalism, which considers all
men equally able to work and
achieve anything they set their
minds to, without overbearing,
paternalistic government standing in their way.
No other country has been
based on these principles,
which is why we are exceptional: we are an exception to
the rule that virtually all nations
have been run by heavy-handed Ruling Classes, trapping the
common man in pre-ordained
social setups. If we let our
nation’s core ideals slip away,
and we all know that they are
under severe assault and are
slipping away, then we have betrayed the men of Pearl Harbor,
and of every war and conflict
before and since. Our ability
to help the world, to lead and
to inspire, to feed and to share,
will be severely damaged or
destroyed. We must not let that
happen. We must not let our
children forget the gift of their
heritage.
Let us resolve to honor the
men of Pearl Harbor, and all
of our veterans, by fighting the
good fight for our country, under
the God Who gave us this great
nation.
PEARL HARBOR MISTAKES
Contributed. From the Web.
Tour boats ferry people out
to the USS Arizona Memorial
in Hawaii every thirty minutes.
We just missed a ferry and
had to wait thirty minutes. I
went into a small gift shop to
kill time. In the gift shop, I purchased a small book entitled,
“Reflections on Pearl Harbor”
by Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Sunday, December 7th,
1941 -- Admiral Chester Nimitz
was attending a concert in
Washington D.C. He was
paged and told there was a
phone call for him.
When he answered the
phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He told
Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz)
would now be the Commander
of the Pacific
Fleet.
Admiral Nimitz
flew to Hawaii to
assume command
of the Pacific
Fleet. He landed
at Pearl Harbor
on Christmas
Eve, 1941.
There was such
a spirit of despair,
dejection and defeat -- you would
have thought the Japanese
had already won the war.
On Christmas Day, 1941,
Adm. Nimitz was given a boat
tour of the destruction wrought
on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.
Big sunken battleships and
navy vessels cluttered the waters every where you looked.
As the tour boat returned to
dock, the young helmsman of
the boat asked, “Well Admiral,
what do you think after seeing
all this destruction?”
Admiral Nimitz’s reply
shocked everyone within the
sound of his voice. Admiral
Nimitz said, “The Japanese
made three of the biggest
mistakes an attack force could
ever make, or God was taking
care of America . Which do
you think it was?”
Shocked and surprised,
the young helmsman asked,
“What do mean by saying the
Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force
ever made?”
Nimitz explained: Mistake
number one: the Japanese
attacked on Sunday morning.
Nine out of every ten crewmen
of those ships were ashore on
leave. If those same ships had
been lured to sea and been
sunk--we would have lost
38,000 men instead of 3,800.
Mistake number two: when
the Japanese saw all those
battleships lined in a row, they
got so carried away sinking
those battleships, they never
once bombed our dry docks
opposite those ships. If they
had destroyed our dry docks,
we would have had to tow everyone of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now,
the ships are in shallow water
and can be raised. One tug
can pull them over to
the dry docks, and
we can have them
repaired and at sea
by the time we could
have towed them
to America. And I
already have crews
ashore anxious to
man those ships.
Mistake number
three: Every drop
of fuel in the Pacific
theater of war is on
top of the ground in storage
tanks five miles away over that
hill. One attack plane could
have strafed those tanks and
destroyed our fuel supply.
That’s why I say the
Japanese made three of the
biggest mistakes an attack
force could make, or God was
taking care of America.
ON THE PORCHES
AT THE STORE
SAT, December 7, 9A-Noon,
LIVE PINE TREE SALE, by
Desert Crossroads Garden
Club. About 3 ft tall. Eldercia
(Mondale) Pines. Live in pots. These are the same type of
trees growing around the store.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
L.V. School Board Meeting
Wednesday, December 11, starts
at 5:30PM. At Lucerne Valley High
School.
Santa Photos SATURDAY,
December 14, Noon to 3PM
at Lucerne Valley Market &
Hardware. Sponsored by L.V.
Roadrunners and L.V. Market
& Hardware. No charge for
photos.
Congratulations to
the winners of
our free turkeys!
From Lucerne Valley:
• Christina Rice
• David Molina
• Christina Wallen • Adriana Barajas
• Deborah K. Ivins
• Lucinda Clary
• Joane Harmer
• Renee Rader
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We’re open 6A to 9P Sunday thru Thursday and 6A
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including shorter hours on
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760-248-7311
LIMITS & MULTIPLE PRICING
Please, unless otherwise indicated, ON AD
ITEMS NO MORE THAN 6 TOTAL (including all
flavors or varieties) OF ANY ITEM, PER FAMILY, DURING THE AD PERIOD, AT THE SALE
PRICE, except in produce and meat, which are
limited to normal retail quantities, or which carry
limits specifically stated. Sorry, we must reserve
the right to further limit or refuse sales.
ON MULTIPLE PRICING, when purchasing items
in quantities more or less than the multiple stated,
the register is built automatically to charge the
“each” price times the quantity. (Example: Price
of item is 3/$1. The price of: one = 34¢, two = 68¢,
three = $1, four = $1.34, five = $1.68, six = $2.00).
On the Northeast side of the parking lot:
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Open Mon, Wed, Thur & Fri. 9AM - 4PM
Open Sunday 9AM - 2PM
Closed Sat. & Tues. Phone: 951-897-5862
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