LETTERS: Important words years ago
To the Editor:
I went to visit the new World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. 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 generation" 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, Dec. 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 unbounding 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 60 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.
Vernon Linton
Lubbock, Texas
EDITOR'S NOTE: The above letter has been "making the rounds" on the Internet. It is partly true, but misleading. What's carved on the monument is only a portion of FDR's speech. The next to the last paragraph was "With confidence in our armed forces — with unbounded determination of our people — we will gain the inevitable triumph — so help us God."
