|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
PEARL HARBOR REMEMBERANCE Today is December 7th. I remember, as a nine year old kid, growing up in the New York City suburb of Hempstead, Long Island, listening to the usual Sunday radio programs in my living room when the bulletin came over that the Japanese had Bombed Pearl Harbor. I was too young to really know what that meant and I had no idea where Pearl Harbor was. I saw the worried looks on the faces of my parents and I asked them what was happening. "We're at war with the Japanese," they said. I was petrified. I thought that they would be landing troops on the sandy beaches of our pristine island. My folks assured me that Pearl Harbor was on the other side of the globe and the likelihood of a foreign invasion at this time was remote. But, I grew up associated with the memories of that global conflict and my boyhood games were based around playing soldier in the empty fields near my home as I mowed down enemy troops with stick/rifles. The phrase "Remember Pearl Harbor" was used over and over to promote war bond sales and inspire the citizen populace to endure the shortages that resulted from our war time footing. By the time I was old enough to participate, World War II was over and we had already embarked in a "police action" in Korea. I entered the Navy and was fortunate enough to serve out of the war zone. By the time my four year enlistment was up, The Korean war had ended in a shaky truce and the problems in Vietnam were beginning to boil over. Fast forward the tape some 58 years later. It is once again December 7th. Since World War II ended, December 7th has served as a reminder of that "Day of Infamy" as then President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt put it. Every Dec. 7th, veterans groups hold memorial services and today was no different. As usual, members of the VFW and American Legion and other veterans organizations held a memorial service at Republic Airport on Long Island. It is an appropriate milieux because this general aviation airport was once Republic Aviation, where thousands of P-47 Thunderbolt fighter planes were produced during the war years. Not far from here was Grumman Aviation which produced fighter planes and bombers for the navy, such as the Corsair and the Avenger. At today's ceremony, they even had a refurbished Avenger rolled out as a backdrop to the ceremonies, along with a Mitchell B-25 Air Force light bomber. Honor guards from several military units looked sharp in their dress uniforms, in front of these war planes and the flags snapped briskly in the stiff breeze. The politicians were out in force and they even managed to roll out a couple of navy vets who had been at Pearl Harbor when the attack began. They were in their 70's and soon there will be no more vets of that era. But, today, they were the focus of the tv and print media who wanted something other than the political dog and pony show that was taking place. The speeches went on for far too long, on this sunny, but cold day. My compadres from the NY Times and the NY Daily News were about the same age as I. I joked that between us we had almost three centuries of news photography experience. It's funny. No matter how serious and somber the event, if the speeches get too long, we old timers will find something to lighten the mood. At one point, an actor who was the spitting image of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was wheeled out to make a speech. He was in a wheel chair since Roosevelt had been a victim of polio and had little use of his legs. It is common knowledge that in those days, the press honored the President's request that he not be photographed in his wheelchair, nor with his crutches. If you check back through the photo archives of that period, you will not find any photographic record of his infirmity. Can you imagine the media honoring such a request in this political climate? Yeah, right! So, today, when the "President" struggled to his feet from his wheelchair, I called out for the photographers to wait until he was at the podium to speak. A few of the old timers in the crowd who heard me plead for respect for our "President" laughed because they knew what I was referring to. But, most of the crowd looked at me like I had two heads. Well, maybe I do.
Photo by Dick Kraus © 1999 Newsday |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Dick
Kraus
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Contributor
since 1998
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Behind
the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism |
