Rusty Saber: 'Pearl Harbor' brings U.S. history to life

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It's Titanic mania all over again. |ret||ret||tab|

Readers may remember that, prior to the release of the blockbuster movie "Titanic," background stories filled the media about the sinking of the British luxury liner on its maiden voyage. Media couldn't get enough Titanic stories. Information about the ship was dredged up and reported that no one but us Titanic buffs previously cared about. |ret||ret||tab|

It's happened again. This time the movie creating the mania is "Pearl Harbor," the big-budget movie about the Japanese attack on the U.S. Navy fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. It was probably no accident that the movie opened on the Memorial Day weekend. |ret||ret||tab|

Stories about the attack itself and the movie version fit in nicely with stories about servicemen and servicewomen who fought and died in combat. After all, Memorial Day is a time to decorate the graves of loved ones, including those who gave their lives for their country in wartime. For once, a media blitz I liked. |ret||ret||tab|

As a Titanic buff, I was happy and surprised at the outpouring of details about the ship's maiden voyage and sinking. As a confirmed zealot for the World War II veterans, I'm ecstatic over any focus on them, including the raid on Pearl Harbor and those who lost their lives in it, and the survivors. Dramatic stories about Dec. 7, 1941, which President Roosevelt described as "a date that will live in infamy," are suddenly appearing in print. |ret||ret||tab|

Several Pearl Harbor TV specials cropped up in conjunction with the opening of the movie. Tom Brokaw, of NBC News, hosted a particularly fine two hour special that covered the event about as thoroughly as it could be covered. As an American, I couldn't resist feeling a bit teary-eyed as the voices of men who were actually there that fateful day described the carnage shown in the flickering black-and-white, 60-year-old film footage some taken by attacking Japanese pilots. |ret||ret||tab|

The chaos created as bombs and torpedoes destroyed great ships of the American Pacific fleet at anchor on Sunday morning seemed to me to be more than empty historical newsreel images of a long-ago battle. Voices of the men are heard over the sound of exploding ships and machine gun fire from enemy aircraft strafing American aircraft on the ground. These voices belonged to elderly men describing events that took place when they were very young; the producers showed photographs of them then and videos of them today. |ret||ret||tab|

Some were mere boys, boys who grew up on that Sunday morning so long ago. One survivor, a grizzled old retired Navy chief, broke into tears as he described the grim death of a young shipmate that took place before his eyes. Another got a faraway, tearful look in his eye as he talked about buddies being thrown from his ship into the fiery water. |ret||ret||tab|

Watching the explosive footage of the attack made it clear that the technology hasn't existed until recently to make a truly realistic Pearl Harbor movie. The devastation couldn't be properly depicted without the latest in special effects. The same can be said of earlier Titanic movies, where the sinking of the ship looked contrived. I recently watched an old John Wayne naval war movie on cable. In the big battle scene, a ship exploded; it was very obvious that it was a wooden model blown-up in a movie studio. |ret||ret||tab|

Just as special effects made the most recent Titanic sinking look like the real thing, I understand the new Pearl Harbor movie is as close to the real thing as the original film footage shows except that no young men in their teens were killed. I'm not always a big devotee of the Hollywood crowd; however, if this movie acquaints young people with the event that triggered World War II, the defining event of the 20th century, I'm delighted. |ret||ret||tab|

America has become such a throwaway society that we are in danger of throwing away our history. I have read the comments of young people who say they had never heard about Pearl Harbor. Along with the movie "Saving Private Ryan," young people are learning about the war and, it is hoped, comprehending the immense sacrifices made many years ago by those young warriors who have aged, but still have memories of a time when heroism was commonplace. If you haven't already done so, try to visit the Pearl Harbor Monument in Honolulu. You can't help but be proud to be an American |ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|(Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University and a Springfield public relations consultant.)|ret||ret||tab|

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