The
Omission From the New
W.W.II Memorial
Today I went to visit the new World War II Memorial in Washington,
DC. I got an unexpected history lesson. Since I'm
a baby boomer, I was one of the youngest in the crowd. Most
were the age of my parents, veterans of "the greatest war" with their
families. It was a beautiful day, and people were smiling
and happy to be there. Hundreds of us milled around the
memorial, reading the inspiring words of Ike and Truman that are
engraved there.
On the Pacific side of the memorial, a group of us gathered to read the
words President Roosevelt used to announce the attack on Pearl
Harbor: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941-- a date which will
live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked."
One woman read the words aloud: " With confidence in our armed forces,
with the un bounding determination of our people, we will gain the
inevitable triumph."
But as she read, she was suddenly angry. "Wait a minute,"
she said. "They left out the end of the quote. They
left out the most important part. Roosevelt said: "so help us God."
"You're probably right," her husband said. "We're not
supposed to say things like that now."
"I know I'm right," she insisted. "I remember the speech"
The two shook their heads sadly and walked away.
Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself, "Well, it has
been 50 years. She's probably forgotten." But she was right.
I went home and pulled out the book my book club is
reading. It's "Flags of Our Fathers" by James
Bradley. It's all about Iwo Jima. I haven't
gotten too far in the book. It's tough to read because it's
a graphic description of the battles in the Pacific. But right there it
was on page 58. Roosevelt's speech to the nation It ends "so
help us God."
The people who edited out that part of the speech when they engraved it
on the memorial could have fooled me. I was born after the
war. But they couldn't fool the people who were
there. Roosevelt's words are engraved on their hearts.
WHO GAVE THEM THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE WORDS OF HISTORY?????????
You're welcome to send this around to your friends. People
need to know before everyone forgets. People today are trying to change
the history of America by leaving God out of it, but the truth is, God
has been a part of this nation, since the beginning. He
still wants to be...
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