It's December 7 already

[Big RR]

I thought I noticed a nip in the air this morning.

[Burning Petard]

I drove by a Bob Evans restaurant this morning--the flag was all the way up. Likewise the flag poles across the street from my apartment complex. State Highways department offices with three flag poles, one National, one state, one for county. All at the top.

So much for the day that will live forever in infamy.

snailgate

[RayThom]

Yikes! It kinda' sneaked up on me.

[Bicycle Bill]

Pearl Harbor Day is not a legal holiday any more than 9/11 or the day Lincoln or Kennedy was shot, and unless King Donald were to issue another one of his Executive Proclamations to explicitly order such an action there is no specific reason the American flag should be at half-staff today.

-"BB"-

[Joe Guy]

public law 103-308

[rubato]

So it is up to the President to issue a proclamation and then urge public agencies to fly the flag at half-staff. Sooo? Anything from the WH about this?


yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

Apparently he did:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-of ... arl-harbor

But it took until almost the end of the day for him to get around to it.

yrs,
rubato

[Bicycle Bill]

public law 103-308

Thank you for proving my point, Joe.

That December 7 of each year is designated as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day" and the President is authorized and requested —
(1) to issue annually a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and
(2) to urge all Federal agencies, and interested organizations, groups, and individuals, to fly the flag of the United States at halfstaff each December 7 in honor of the individuals who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.
......emphasis mine

Which means that, since 1994, even if Clinton, Bush 43, or Obama had issued such an order, it would have been for that year only and they (or their successor) would have had to reissue a proclamation the following year.  And while I don't know if Obama ever issued such a proclamation/Executive Order during his tenure in office, we all know how 'King Donald' feels about agreeing with anything Obama did or said — good or bad — during his term, so it should not come as any surprise to anyone that he would have skipped over it.

-"BB"-

[Bicycle Bill]

Apparently he did:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-of ... arl-harbor

But it took until almost the end of the day for him to get around to it.

yrs,
rubato

I wonder who wrote it for him.  I guaran-damn-tee you those sure weren't his own words.

-"BB"-

[dales]

Here in CoCo County we have this event on Dec. 7.

Pearl Harbor Day Beacon Lighting Ceremony
 
 
On Thursday, December 7th, Mount Diablo's Beacon will be relit by survivors of Pearl Harbor.

"The Beacon lighting is a tribute to those individuals that lost their lives at Pearl Harbor", says Earl "Chuck" Kohler, one of the few remaining survivors in Contra Costa County. However, the ceremony is also an opportunity to honor the survivors. When those who experienced Pearl Harbor are gone, the history is lost with them. We invite you to attend the ceremony to pay tribute to and honor our veterans.

The Sons & Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, Chapter 5 are pleased to co-sponsor this ceremony with Save Mount Diablo in recognition of the 54th Annual National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
Every year since 1964, the Pearl Harbor survivors and their families have memorialized Pearl Harbor Day by relighting the historic Beacon atop Mount Diablo's summit. The “Eye of Diablo” as it’s known, was extinguished in 1941 just after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  In 1964, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces during World War II, relit the Beacon the first time and suggested it be lit every December 7th to honor those who served and sacrificed.

The Beacon is lit at sunset and shines all night on this single evening each year. The Beacon now shines brighter than ever since it underwent an extensive restoration process in 2013 to ensure it continues to shine for many more years.
Where:
The ceremony will be held at the California State East Bay Concord Campus, 4700 Ygnacio Valley Road, Concord, CA  94521. See the Campus Map.

Directions: http://goo.gl/maps/jXhcW.

For more information about the annual Beacon Lighting Ceremony, read the press release or contact Save Mount Diablo's office at (925) 947-3535.
We photograph, video- and audio-record throughout the event, and by entering the space and joining the gathering you are granting us permission to record you.

Beacon History

The Beacon was originally lit by Charles Lindbergh in 1928 to assist in the early days of commercial aviation. The Beacon shined from the summit of Mount Diablo each night until December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was not relit until December 7, 1964, when Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces during World War II, attended a ceremony on Mount Diablo’s summit in commemoration of the survivors of Pearl Harbor.

He suggested it be lit every December 7th to honor those who served and sacrificed.

Since that day in 1964, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association and now the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors with co-sponsor Save Mount Diablo have memorialized Pearl Harbor Day by turning on the summit Beacon atop Mount Diablo. The Beacon now shines on that single night each year.

The “Eye of Diablo” is one of the last remaining working Beacons from the transcontinnetal string of guides. For many years it recieved little to no maintenance, leaving the beacon in significant disrepair. In 2013, Save Mount Diablo partnered with many community members to undertake the task of its restoration.

The Pearl Harbor Survivors would like to know that the Beacon will shine long after they are gone.

[Joe Guy]

That December 7 of each year is designated as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day" and the President is authorized and requested —
(1) to issue annually a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities; and
(2) to urge all Federal agencies, and interested organizations, groups, and individuals, to fly the flag of the United States at halfstaff each December 7 in honor of the individuals who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.
......emphasis mine

It is a Ceremonial Proclamation. Flags should be at half mast even without a proclamation from the president, although I doubt any president since the resolution was passed has ever not done it.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Don't you think it time to give up this jingoistic celebration of defeat? Bunker Hill finally went away. Fredericksburg doesn't get much of a look-in. Nor does the Kasserine Pass.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I agree with Meade here. I know about the day that will live in infamy etc., but why pay all this attention to what was, after all, a resounding defeat? I would vote D-Day for an annual celebration and reminder.

[Lord Jim]

I believe it is always appropriate, and now it is particularly important and appropriate....

with a substantial portion of the American public embracing the neo-isolationist doctrine preached by our neo-isolationist President....

That we commemorate the day that poignantly illustrates where the original isolationist doctrine led us...

[RayThom]

Military/Industrial Complex newspeak -- Defeat is Victory.

Vietnam, Iraq, Syria (pick a hot spot, any hot spot)... we win so much, we get sick and tired of winning.

[Burning Petard]

Memorialize does not mean a jingoistic celebration. As a boy scout in the 50's I put little American flags on grave markers of veterans (I had no information how they died, just that they were on a list of veterans), a few days before a parade on May 30. My scout troop marched in the parade that began at City Hal and ended at the town cemetery. At the cemetery there was a speech by a politician, badly electronically amplified and I rarely heard anything more than a few words. My scoutmaster and my parents both talked about all this before the event and what I remember was that 'We" should never forget war was terrible and destructive, for all parties, winners, losers, non-combatants, families left behind.

Certainly flying flags at half-staff is no celebration. As I noted in another thread yesterday, America prefers celebrations that can be monetized.

snailgate

[MajGenl.Meade]

That we commemorate the day that poignantly illustrates where the original isolationist doctrine led us...

Been reading rubato's history blog again, LJ? The path to Pearl Harbor was littered with U.S. efforts to restrict Japanese influence in Asia-Pacific.

No I'm afraid it's just more imperialist racism....

Note: not to say that Japan was innocent, natch. Just that "isolationist" is the reverse of the truth in this arena. Europe is something else.

[rubato]

Isolationist? There were a few cranks who advocated isolationism and we screwed up badly by not joining the League of Nations, but Isolationism was not US policy.


Comparing Pearl Harbor to the Kasserine pass is pure crackpottery. Kasserine pass was a temporary setback in the struggle for N. Africa. And it was a necessary learning experience for US officers and men. It was not the beginning or end of anything. And the minutia of the civil war is good only for curing insomnia.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

Comparing Pearl Harbor to the Kasserine pass is pure crackpottery. Kasserine pass was a temporary setback in the struggle for N. Africa. And it was a necessary learning experience for US officers and men. It was not the beginning or end of anything. And the minutia of the civil war is good only for curing insomnia.

The point was not to compare events but how events are viewed or celebrated, and for how long. The Civil War reference was to indicate that something which at one time was a big deal is eventually a not-so shining artifact of the past.

Fredericksburg was a defeat that cost the Union 12,653 casualties, considerably higher than Bloody Omaha.

The Pass was a defeat, as was Pearl Harbor - the first major non-Pacific defeat of WW2. It was the beginning of "a necessary learning experience" - perhaps you forgot you'd just typed that? It was also the end of innocence and the end of a lot of lives. Really... keep the blog going. I enjoy it.

[Lord Jim]

Note: not to say that Japan was innocent, natch. Just that "isolationist" is the reverse of the truth in this arena.

Sorry, but American Isolationism definitely played a role in the calculations of the Japanese High Command:

While the United States had belatedly begun rearming in the late 1930s, the Japanese were still convinced that in a naval war, their ships, planes and personnel were at least as modern and plentiful, if not more numerous and qualitatively better than what was available to the United States.

The growing isolationism of the United States that had been championed by the likes of icons like Walt Disney and Charles Lindbergh, the persistent Depression, and the fact that the United States had not intervened in Europe, but instead watched Britain get battered for some 26 months from September 1939 to December 1941, suggested to many in the Japanese military command that the United States might either negotiate or respond only halfheartedly after Pearl Harbor, especially after the envisioned loss of the American carrier fleet.

http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/real- ... rl-harbor/