Today
is the 71st Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. The speech given by Franklin Delano
Roosevelt the following day placed forever in history the word “Infamy” in
conjunction with this event.
Several books would be written about that day and the events that led up
to it. Almost all of them use the
word “Infamy” in one form or another.
In Washington DC, the Japanese that day had hoped to end negations for
peace before the attack. They felt
this gesture would be enough of a warning to the Americans that war with Japan
was inevitable. Japan hoped to
strike first, but not as a “sneak” attack per say. Even so, they wanted to catch us by surprise. They even had an attack code that would
inform their commanders they had achieved the complete surprise they wanted. The three words that are also forever
associated with this attack are “Tora, Tora, Tora”. They would be immortalized in the 1970 movie about the Pearl Harbor attack titled with those same words.
Growing
up I established an interest in reading Non Fiction history books. Specifically ones about World War II…even
MORE specifically ones about the Pacific War. And if you want to learn about anything, you have to start
at the beginning. The first war books
I would read were about that day of “Infamy”. At first I would check these books out from the library, but
as I got older I started to amass my own collection. As other kids boasted about the size of their album
collection, I was building a batch of bindings. Back then you did not have the Barnes and Nobles and the Borders
to buy books…well, we don’t have the Borders now anymore do we. You only had a local bookstore if you
were lucky. Usually their offerings
were severely limited…especially the books I was looking for. It was around then I found an ad in a
hobby magazine. It was for the
Military Book Club. I filled out
the application and mailed it off as soon as I could. In a few weeks I received their pamphlet of the monthly book
offerings. I was hooked!
World
War II books were a great origin of enjoyment for me when I was younger. However, this was not the only source
for the subject matter. Back then,
as most kids did, I had a paper route.
Sunday mornings would bring the added newspaper features of cartoons,
coupons and Newsday’s weekly TV guide.
The latter is what I would be looking for. In the back of it was listed all the movies for the week…of
course this was WELL before anyone knew the initials HBO. Every now and then these movies would
be on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon…but mostly they were part of the weeknight
Late Show, or Late, LATE Show…and I am not talking Letterman or Ferguson. I would scour the text for all the war
movies and circle their times. I
would then set the VCR…oh wait, they didn’t exist yet. These Late Show movies would come on at
1am. And the Late, LATE Show
movies? Well, even later. Staying up as a kid would prove too
difficult, hell, as an adult it is too difficult. Instead, I would be off to bed around 9pm and set my alarm
for the movie.
The
movies I wanted to see did not come on too often. I decided I would record them. Once again, I am not talking VCR…I am talking cassette tape
audio only. I would place the tape
machine right next to the TV’s small speaker…hitting pause for the few
commercials that were shown during this late hour. Afterwards, I would listen to them over and over. As I did, I could visualize the movie
action. In reality, all I needed
to do was look around my room.
Between the aviation art on the wall and the almost live action dogfight
diorama hanging from my ceiling…it didn’t take much for me to immerse myself. I recorded some of the all time
classics. “Flying Leathernecks”, “Thirty
Seconds over Tokyo” and “Halls of Montezuma”. Unfortunately there was one movie that would just not
translate to taping. I could
only watch it on TV and would have to wait forever for it to be
shown. It contained Japanese
actors talking in their native tongue…and the movie was filled with
subtitles. The movie was “Tora,
Tora, Tora”.
“Tora,
Tora, Tora” became one of my all time favorites. I thought it might be because of the rare availability to view it. But the real
reason…well, was realism. “Tora, Tora, Tora” was a success in the movies, but I
never did see it on the big screen.
Their attention to detail and accuracy was amazing. It was never more evident to me when
the next big war movie came out.
It was 1976 and Charlton Heston had moved on from Apes and Earthquakes
and Airports. This time he was taking
on the Japanese himself in the epic film of the time, Midway. Of course I was off to the theater to
see it. Being a bit of a youthful
historian, the movie did a great job of following the facts. Where it failed miserably was visually. Where Tora, Tora, Tora took painstaking
steps to get all the aircraft accurately, Midway did not. The movie even “took” scenes from Tora,
Tora, Tora to incorporate into it. It made me
appreciate the older movie even more.
Eventually Midway would come to television and I would audio tape
it. I actually enjoyed listening
to it better since that way I could visualize the correct planes.
In
1997 I would attend my first real airshow containing vintage World War II
aircraft. I had seen static
displays, but never before had I seen them flying. I would have to travel to Elmira, NY since airshows at that
time were not held on Long Island.
I had discovered the airshow on the Internet. However, the information highway was more of a back road at
that time. Details of the event
were limited, but at least I had the date, time and location. When I arrived I got a brochure listing the events. I could not believe my eyes. A group called the Confederate Air
Force was performing a reenactment of the Pearl Harbor attack. I headed over to the tarmac to talk to
the performers. I found out that
six replica Japanese aircraft were donated to them that were used in the movie
Tora, Tora, Tora. I could not
believe I was seeing the actual planes!
I soon settled in to watch the show…and it did not disappoint. I felt like I was an extra in the movie
I had watched so many times growing up.
It was filled with flying and smoke and explosions. All a growing boy needs.
In 2001 someone decided to produce another movie about Pearl
Harbor. It was not a remake of
Tora, Tora, Tora…but I eagerly anticipated its arrival. I discovered that the reenactment group
I had seen would be a part of the filming. This elevated my expectations. However, what efforts the producer and actors gave to create
the 1970 movie, this new one lacked.
The real life planes were dwarfed by digitized images that were more
glitz and glamour than actual history.
The movie Pearl Harbor was filled with inaccuracies and Affleck…
And that’s not good for anyone.
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