Isoroku Yamamato was the Japanese admiral responsible for planning the attack on Pearl Harbor, and he was a brilliant man and tactician. Yamamato had studied in the United States as a young man and had developed great respect for our nation’s spirit and will. Even as he planned the devastating attack, he he advised Japanese leaders against it:
“Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it would not be enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians (who speak so lightly of a Japanese-American war) have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.”
On this 63rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it is good to remember the loss of life, the blow to our nation, and that Yamamato was right: one single devastating blow would not be enough to bring America to its knees. I am so thankful for those men of The Greatest Generation.
