America remembers ‘Day that will live in infamy’

For most students, December is a month full of giving and receiving gifts as well as celebrating with family and friends. However, many students overlook one event that lasted only a few hours 75 years ago and threatened the livelihood of most Americans.

Pearl Harbor, the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was attacked by Japanese Imperial forces, resulting in over 2,000 casualties of military personnel and civilians on Dec. 7, 1941.

On the Hawaiian island of Oahu, many sailors had just woken up and were preparing for a relaxed day on an island many consider equivalent to paradise. Despite a warning sent directly to President Franklin Roosevelt three days prior to the attack that threatened the Hawaiian islands, no additional defense of the massive harbor was employed.

Just before 8 a.m., the first Japanese dive bombers flew into the harbor in formation, dropping the first bombs.

The harbor was dive-bombed and torpedoed for two hours, damaging or destroying 20 ships and over 300 airplanes.

One of the most chilling stories was that of the U.S.S. Arizona, which was bombed only about 10 minutes after the start of the attack. An 1,800 lb bomb landed in the ammunition magazine and the ship exploded, sinking and trapping over 1,000 sailors inside.

Although every major battleship in the harbor sustained major damage, the U.S.S. Arizona and U.S.S. Utah were the only two that were never repaired.

This attack caused more casualties than any previous attack on U.S. soil (a record that would not be broken until 9/11), and it had some of the greatest repercussions.

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was thrust into World War II, in which America had desperately tried to maintain a neutral stance.

While most people at the time were excited for the holidays, just like today, many men and women, ages 18 to 45, volunteered or were drafted into the war effort.

The fighting in the Pacific campaign began on Dec. 8 and continued until Sept. 2, 1945, just about a month after the first ever atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Within the near four years that the United States was at war with Japan, the United States lost over 111,000 troops, over 250,000 troops were wounded and over 21,000 troops were taken as prisoners of war.

Within the near four years that the United States was at war with Japan, the United States lost over 111,000 troops, over 250,000 troops were wounded and over 21,000 troops were taken as prisoners of war.

Not only did the war cause massive casualties, it marked a new era, the era of modern weapons and “mutually assured destruction,” the premise that the best way to prevent being destroyed by an attack of nuclear bombs would be to have the nuclear arsenal to obliterate any opponent. No attack or air raid in history had ever reached the pure hysteria and fatality of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in the same amount of time.

As most members of the military that experienced the attack on Pearl Harbor are in their late 90s or no longer alive, it is especially important to remember the consequences of the attack, and the sacrifices that were made in order to win the war.

The war began with an obvious Japanese advantage because, in previous years, Japan had conquered a great amount of land in the Pacific. However, America had quickly turned into a war machine and it wasn’t long before Japan felt its remarkable capabilities.

The first few major battles between the United States and Japan were the Battle of Wake Island, resulting in an all out Japanese victory, and the Battle of the Coral Sea which resulted in a tactical victory for Japan.

The next major battle was the Battle of Midway, when breakthroughs in deciphering the Japanese Purple code gave the U.S. Navy critical information of a sneak attack planned to hit the American Island of Midway. The attack, if successful would completely disable the U.S. Navy as most of its major, functioning ships were located at Midway Island.

Despite being extremely outnumbered, the U.S. Navy was able to destroy all four of the aircraft carriers sent to Midway with the loss of only one of their own aircraft carriers (U.S.S. Yorktown). With the removal of a major portion of the Japanese Navy, the U.S. was given more room to advance through the Pacific.

The Battle of Guadalcanal (in the Solomon Islands), also known as the Guadalcanal Campaign, marked the turning point as the main airstrip on the island, dubbed Henderson Field, was of great strategic importance to both Japan and the United States due to its close proximity to Japan.

The initial victory in Guadalcanal was swift, however, the United States celebrated too quickly and sent off most of its major defenses, including the U.S.S. Enterprise. The island was subject to heavy fire, many of the ships were destroyed, the U.S.S. Enterprise was badly damaged and many troops were killed or wounded.

“Our muddy machine gun pits were transformed into Courage Clubs when bombs fell or Japanese warships pounded us from the sea,” said PFC Robert Leckie of the 1st Marine Division in “Helmet for my Pillow”: “It was natural that the poor fellow who might break into momentary terror should cause pained silence and embarrassed coughs.”

Despite the possibility of an American victory steadily increasing, Japan fought on. The following campaign of the Mariana and Palau Islands resulted in major American victories and massive casualties, many of which were civilian casualties, often suicides.

In particular, the Battle of Peleliu caused immense losses on both the American and Japanese sides. The island, that was occupied by Japan at the time, was only a little bit over five square miles; however, many of members of the Marines going onto the island did not ever make it off the beach. On top of the massive casualties, the battle is considered unnecessary by many Marines.

“The wounded who had received morphine sat or lay around like zombies and patiently awaited the ‘docs’ attention,” said Cpl. Eugene Sledge, recalling the invasion of Peleliu in his book, “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa”.

In fall of 1944, the U.S. invaded the island of Leyte in the Philippines. The invasion faced little opposition as the Japanese military had expected the main island of Luzon to be invaded first. Japan waged a counter attack, where the remaining Japanese defenses would be split up to corner the portion of the island under American control, meanwhile the four remaining aircraft carriers were set as a decoy.

The U.S. soon became aware of the group in the north and proceeded to bombard the group. After two days, the group’s largest ship was sunk and they appeared to retreat. The decoy carriers, spotted by the U.S. attracted a large portion of the protection of Leyte, and the Southern group was bombarded as well. The northern group had only pretended to retreat, and the depleted U.S. defense was now under fire. However, the Japanese leader turned back, worried that they were sailing into a trap. The decoy group was also fully destroyed by the U.S., leaving the Japanese Navy with little form of defense.

With the possibility of an American victory becoming more likely, the Japanese became desperate ;Kamikaze attacks were born. Not only would Japanese pilots fly planes into ships in suicide missions, soldiers would strap landmines to their bodies and deliberately throw themselves under tanks. This prolonged the battle by two months, when the entire island was secure. The Japanese had lost almost 70,000 troops while the U.S. lost almost 16,000.

Next was the Battle of Iwo Jima. Just southeast of Japan, Iwo Jima was the first of the Japanese home islands to be attacked. Despite being outnumbered by 90,000 soldiers, the Japanese held strong by using a system of underground tunnels, heavy artillery and bunkers. After nearly two months of barbaric fighting, the U.S. captured Iwo Jima. Most Japanese soldiers defending Iwo Jima were killed or missing.

The U.S. advanced onto the Japanese Home Island of Okinawa on April 1, 1945. Many historians consider this the bloodiest battle of the war in the Pacific.

The Japanese, focused on delaying the advance of the american forces, sent massive amount of suicide missions out. Kamikaze attacks were rampant and the Japanese would even strap bombs to civilians to trick the U.S. forces. Differing from most of the other battles, the Battle of Okinawa took place in a relatively heavily populated area and civilians were used as spies, informants and decoys,subsequently, the Battle of Okinawa produced nearly 100,000 civilian casualties.

The island was fully captured on June 21, 1945. For the months following the Battle of Okinawa, the U.S. started preparing to invade Japan. Simultaneously, a new type of bomb was being developed and tested in the states to cause massive destruction.

With the new bomb being tested, the allied victory in Europe and the immensely depleted Japanese military, an allied victory on the war seemed inevitable.

On July 16, 1945, the Manhattan Project reported a successful detonation of the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. News of this produced a debate in the U.S. Government that was soon resolved, and the bombs were sent to the Pacific.

On August 6, the first atomic bomb was planned to be dropped on the city of Hiroshima with alternates being Nagasaki and Kokura. After a short bought of bad weather, the clouds over Hiroshima broke and it was officially decided where the bomb would be dropped. These specific locations were chosen because they were left unscathed by American dive bombers, allowing the full effects of the bomb to be shown.

Throughout the night, warnings of bomb raids rang over Hiroshima, the last one being cleared at 7:09 am. The bomb was released from the B-29 aircraft, named Enola Gay, at 8:15 am. Few people knew the true nature of the bomb, so when it detonated in the center of Hiroshima, most of the crew in the Enola Gay and the other aircraft accompanying it were shocked when the initial blast of the bomb went off. 30 percent of the population in Hiroshima died from the blast and the resulting firestorm.

Three days following the bomb drop on Hiroshima, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, although the planned target for the drop was Kokura. The bomb was dropped over Nagasaki at 11:01 am. At least 35,000 people were killed by the initial blast of this bomb.

Both cities experienced medical emergencies after the dropping of their respective bombs. Burns and other injuries kept the few surviving doctors extremely busy for the next few days, then radiation poisoning began presenting itself in massive numbers.

“We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty, and to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another,” Julius Robert Oppenheimer said, one of the physicists on the Manhattan Project.

Emperor Hirohito, of Japan announced the unconditional surrender of Japan on August 14, 1945 ending World War II.

Dec. 2016

 

Reduce prices of college admission requirements

By Alexandra Griffin, Managing Editor

Preparing for college is one of the most exciting and stressful times of a young person’s life. While the stress of studying and homework is standard for most students, many also experience stress in finding ways to pay for testing and applications, which can all add up to be hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of dollars.

Like many other students, I am planning on taking the SAT and ACT multiple times and am also looking to apply to many colleges. If I were to take the SAT three times, the ACT twice, and apply to seven colleges, I could be paying around $475 (application fee derived from the US News and Business Report average), not including the writing section of either test and additional score reports.

Although the price of testing fees is being reduced slowly by high schools offering free testing, other college admission requirements, like application fees, can be pretty steep.

Because of high application fees, I will not be applying to as many colleges as I would like to. However, if the price of application fees is lowered, I may apply to more schools.

For example, Stanford University’s application fee is $90, which is the highest in the country. I could live off of that $90 for two weeks in college (not including tuition), but  instead I have to use that money to apply to a college that, if I went to, I would be paying tens of thousands of dollars to attend.

I believe that having to pay such high fees for applications is unfair, as some students are offered a dismissal of their application fee if they qualify for financial aid while others are not.

While I do believe that financial aid should be offered to students who need it, I also believe that it is not fair that students who may just miss the qualifications of financial aid could have to pay over a thousand dollars to apply to multiple colleges, when someone who just meets the qualifications of financial aid doesn’t have to pay any application fees, despite the small difference in their incomes.

Not only is it not fair to students who “can” afford college applications, which is determined by the college’s qualifications for financial aid, with the amount of money colleges pay for sports, new buildings and other features not required for the school’s academic success, I find that it is not fair for potential students to have to pay such a hefty application fee, especially when they could be a great asset to the school’s academic success.

Sept. 2016

 

Gun control laws should not infringe on constitutional rights

By Alexandra Griffin, Managing Editor

With many mass shootings and an overwhelming amount of gun violence in the news recently, the pitch for stricter and more prohibitive gun laws has been welcomed by many civilians and politicians with open arms. However, with some of these laws, like the law recently passed in California limiting the quantity of bullets in a magazine, a person’s Second Amendment right is infringed upon and, therefore, it should not be enforced.

While gun violence is a huge issue in the United States that hits many Floridians close to home, a person should still be allowed to own a gun.

The Second Amendment was made so that if a tyrannical government were to reign over the United States, the people could fight back. With this year’s election having the potential to go in many different directions, I feel that it is especially important to recognize the importance for the right to bear arms.

While I do not think gun control laws should oppress one’s constitutional rights, I do think there needs to be a change. I think all states need to strictly enforce a waiting period to receive a gun after buying it.

I also believe that firearm education needs to be taken more seriously. In 2016 alone, there have been 1,471 cases of accidental shootings according to gunviolencearchive.com.

A person should also have to obtain a license before being able to purchase a gun to ensure that the person knows how to use it properly, effectively and safely.

While I think, unfortunately, there is no one way to stop gun violence, it definitely is not through enforcing laws that infringe upon one’s constitutional rights.

Sept. 2016

 

Media Center to receive makeover

By Alexandra Griffin

The media center has been undergoing some fairly drastic changes, including cleaning out many books and getting rid of many of the bookshelves against the north wall, in preparation for major renovations during the summer.

“The idea is to make the media center like a Barnes and Noble,” Principal Thomas said.

The library will be converted into a more interactive, modern and mobile space to encourage students to read and visit the media center more often.

“I am just so excited for students to be able to utilize the space to the fullest and how cool it is going to look,” Ms. Estrella, the media center aide, said.

Students also seem to like the new design.

“The plans are great,” senior Cross Carlisle, media center teacher’s assistant, said. “I think it will bring more people into the media center and add a sense of togetherness.”

The new plans include several comfortable, mobile and flexible areas for students to read and enjoy the media center.

“The areas will be very defined for their different purposes,” Ms. Estrella said.

The new space will also include high-top tables, couches and other rectangular tables that can be converted to make a testing area. There is even the possibility of adding an area for a coffee stand for students and faculty.

“The fact that there may be food stations is my favorite aspect,” Carlisle said.

The library will still have a section dedicated to books that students can check out; however, the reference and nonfiction sections were removed and offered to students for free because most students now use the Internet to find information that would otherwise be located in those sections.

The plan will require many cosmetic as well as structural renovations, including the installation of new carpet and changes to the electrical system so students can plug in their phones, tablets or other devices they may use to study or read.

Apr. 2016

 

Thanksgiving takes the cake, or pie

By Alexandra Griffin, Web Editor

The holiday season is one of the most joyous times of the year. Families come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and many other holidays. But, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Thanksgiving is by far the most enjoyable.

Thanksgiving is not subjective to one religion like Christmas is. Anyone can celebrate Thanksgiving, so there is no rift if family members or friends have differing religious beliefs.

The tradition of Thanksgiving is also more accurate to its origin. Giving thanks, eating turkey and the fruits of the harvest were all included in the first Thanksgiving and are what it is revolved around today. This is unlike Christmas and other holidays whose meanings have changed as they have become more revolved around commercial businesses making big bucks.

Thanksgiving also doesn’t require people to spend tons of time and money buying gifts for people. All you have to do is make some food and eat it.

There is not the stress of finding the perfect gift for that one person and there isn’t the selfish appeal of receiving gifts.

With Thanksgiving being the most true, least stressful, and least subjective holiday of the season, it is clearly the best of them all.

Oct. 2015