Milestone reached.....plus a great WWII book!

Today is 1,346 days since the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Why is that significant?

As it was pointed out yesterday on the Rachel Maddow Show, it was 1,346 days between Pearl Harbor and V-J day.

Strange, that after we had been suddenly and deliberately attacked by the Empire of Japan, that President Roosevelt didn't make up false reasons to attack Fiji. Nor did he declare "Mission Accomplished" after the Solomons Campaign in 1943...

In fact, the entire war was punctuated by a clarity of purpose, organization, and unified effort by everyone involved. We also had something unusual in those days...something called "allies". But George Bush wouldn't know about that.



Speaking of World War II, I've just finished the most amazing book I have yet read on the subject. It's the astonishing Pacific War Diary by Seaman First Class James J. Fahey. This is a day-to-day account of life aboard the USS Montpelier throughout the course of the war, from the Solomons to the Marianas to the Marshalls, to the Philippines, and finally on to Japan.

Seaman Fahey was present for the biggest battles of the Pacific, and his unique perspective of daily life aboard a ship of the line is a must read. It's also remarkable to me on a personal level, for Seaman Fahey was a native of Waltham, Ma, and in fact his house is still standing not quite 1 mile from where I sit typing this morning. I too had relatives in the Pacific, in many of the same campaigns that are told in the book. In some small way, this allowed me to 'look over their shoulder' and see what hardship they went through in order to defeat fascism more than a half-century ago.

On the last pages of the book, there's an observation made by Seaman Fahey about the Japanese in October of 1945....I offer the quote, and I don't think we have to look too deeply into the mirror to see ourselves.

The Japanese people are honest, hard working people who were bluffed along by their cruel leaders. They were helpless to do anything about it. It was the Military Men. Their greed for power brought destruction down upon Japan. If they let the people run the government, it will be in good hands. The Japanese people are no different from the people in any other part of the world. The people all over the world are good. It's the leaders who are to blame.