I received the following e-mail from my dad, a World War II veteran. It was comforting to me:
“One Pearl Harbor was all I thought I would see and feel in my lifetime. To have to relive another numbs the mind. With the force of the media and TV this time, it is hard to get the pictures out of your mind; the human suffering is beyond thought and comprehension.
“It is hard not to think of this night and day. These feelings were all there on Dec. 7, 1941. I was a senior in high school and our country was attacked, so we had to defend our honor and our country. A number of my friends did not finish high school but enlisted in the armed forces to save our country.
“By February of 1943 I was in the U.S. Navy, going through boot camp and service school so I could do my part in helping my country.
“As you know I was in the U.S. Navy from February 1943 to March 1946, with one year of that time–1945–overseas. I love our country very much and I was willing to give my life to protect and preserve the United States of America, and I still am and would be willing to do the same again if needed.”
