This year the focus is on our response that eventually took us to Tokyo Bay as conquerers and not victims:
The theme of the event — "Pacific War Memories: The Heroic Response to Pearl Harbor" — is something of a departure from the past.
Usually, the commemoration focuses on the attack on the USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor and several other installations on Oahu. But this year's remembrance ceremony will center more on the months following the raid, said Eileen Martinez, chief of interpretation for the National Park Service.
"We're moving into the Pacific War, the first strike back," she said.
Good. We should never celebrate victimhood. Which is why I have never flown my American flag at half staff on September 11. The flag should always fly proudly and not in sorrow that day. I do not want weepy sentiment as if we survived a massive earthquake. December 7, 1941 as much as September 11, 2001, were attacks that brought the fact that we are at war violently into our lives. And with enemies who wanted to defeat us, the proper response has been to destroy those enemies.
Remember the dead. But remember that we responded by striking back and pursuing victory.
