When an event that was discussed by your parents when you were a kid is now about to have its 75th anniversary, you begin to feel a little old. I was born a little more than 15 years after the Japanese Imperial Navy launched their attack on Pearl Harbor.
My mother would tell me the story, probably apocryphal, of a young Navy officer who grew up in her Staten Island neighborhood who was saved from facial burns by his Noxzema shaving creme. Likewise, she would tell me the story of how my Uncle John skipped class at Manhattan College on December 8th along with some of his fellow classmates to join the Navy.
It was a different time and a different war.
Every year I search for new propaganda posters that include the phrase “Remember Pearl Harbor”. Here are a couple of the more different ones.