[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 137 (Monday, December 6, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN HONOR OF THE 63RD ANNIVERSARY OF PEARL HARBOR DAY, DECEMBER 7, 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACK KINGSTON

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 6, 2004

  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, December 7, 2004, marks the anniversary of 
the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, a day, which like September 11, 
2001, Americans will remember forever.
  As the sun came up over the Pacific paradise of Oahu, Hawaii, on that 
Sunday morning in 1941, U.S. Navy Mess Attendant 1st Class Doris 
``Dorie'' Miller should have been preparing the morning meal but never 
made it to the mess. Instead, he manned a machine gun on the deck of 
the U.S.S. West Virginia, and successfully shot down several enemy 
planes. Miller was awarded the Navy Cross for gallantry and continued 
to serve on active duty. On the morning of Nov. 24, 1943, Miller died 
when an explosion sank the U.S.S. Liscome Bay (CVE-56). Today, many 
Boys Clubs are named for U.S. Navy Mess Attendant 1st Class Doris 
Miller.
  Since the Revolutionary War, the United States had rarely been 
attacked. Both Norfolk and Washington were threatened during the War of 
1812. During the Spanish American War, port cities along the East Coast 
stood at high alert against possible attacks by Spanish forces sailing 
from Cuba. And 60 years after Pearl Harbor, our Nation was deliberately 
attacked by terrorist evil doers who wanted to do nothing more than 
kill innocent people--arguably in the hopes that it would scare freedom 
loving people into isolation.
  During Pearl Harbor, many Americans, including some military 
commanders, had come to consider U.S. lands immune from enemy invasion. 
That feeling of immunity ended on the morning of December 7, 1941, when 
the Japanese Navy attacked the island of Oahu, Hawaii in two massive 
waves of carrier-based warplanes.
  Sixty years later, many Americans felt immune once again, especially 
after the end of the Cold War. But, as terrorist-driven jet liners 
pounded into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, with a fourth plane 
falling out of the sky in rural Pennsylvania, we were reminded that 
history does indeed repeat itself--we are never immune from those who 
want to perpetuate evil.
  The 2-hour Japanese attack sank 21 Navy ships, destroyed 185 military 
planes and killed 2,290 military personnel at bases throughout Hawaii, 
along with 48 civilians. Japan lost 29 planes and five midget 
submarines. The hull of the sunken U.S.S. Arizona became a tomb for 
1,103 U.S. sailors.
  From the death and destruction in the aftermath of the attack on 
Pearl Harbor rose a resolve to duty on the part of the American people 
that would culminate on September 2, 1945, with the surrender of Japan. 
And today, the American people share the same resolve--an undying 
commitment to defeat the evil of terrorism. History will repeat itself. 
We will prevail.

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