Musings On Remembrance Day

The terror of the unforseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic. -Philip Roth

When I was a young whippersnapper in the '60s, I remember our parent's generation lamenting that we youngsters did not recognize or understand the sacrifices their generation had made.

I thought about that last night as I was watching first The Longest Day, then Midway. The former deals exclusively with D-Day, the landing of Allied troops on the shores at Normandy, which was the beginning of the retaking of France and ultimately Europe from the Nazis. The latter was about the decisive battle of Midway, where the U.S., which had been caught off guard and significantly wounded by the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, turned the corner in the Pacific war which they would ultimately win.

To belabor the obvious, although these events did not happen simultaneously, the U.S. was fighting two wars at the same time.

What the two movies illuminate is that neither victory was a fait accompli. The Panzer unit that could have reinforced the bunkers along the coast of France was never deployed because that was an order only Hitler could give and he was asleep. They were afraid to wake him.

At the beginning of Midway, there is a scene where Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is trying to convince other principal military leaders to strike America in the Coral Sea and at Midway at the same time. The other leaders were not convinced.

The agony of not knowing what lies ahead is apparent in every military man's countenance and actions.

When looking at history, we tend to read it as a novel, with every action flowing logically from the previous action. Looking back, for example, at the Embassy hostage taking in Iran in November, 1979, it seems clear that the President should have known what would happen. Another brief take-over of the embassy had happened the previous February. In the meantime, the U.S. had allowed the deposed shah to enter the country for medical treatment, which was taken as an insult by the Iranian people. There had been demonstrations and the Ayatollah had condemned the U.S. as the Great Satan. Once the hostages had been taken and the stand-off continued for months, many asked why the embassy staff had not been evacuated for their own protection. The answer, of course, is that "the unforseen is what the science of history hides."

D-Day resulted in appalling casualties. The Pacific war as well. One reason we owe a debt of gratitude to those who bravely fought is that the outcome was unknown and they put their lives on the line anyway.

I would like to think that my parents somehow know that I now more fully understand and appreciate what they and their generation did. When you're young, you can't know what you don't know.