Cleaveland: Invisible wounds last for decades with veterans

The SafeSEAL(TM) antimicrobial soft diaphram slips onto any stethoscope effortlessly. Changed only once a week, SafeSEAL(TM)  helps provide protection against harmful bacteria commonly found on stethoscopes. Available in adult, pediatric and infant sizes. (PRNewsFoto)
The SafeSEAL(TM) antimicrobial soft diaphram slips onto any stethoscope effortlessly. Changed only once a week, SafeSEAL(TM) helps provide protection against harmful bacteria commonly found on stethoscopes. Available in adult, pediatric and infant sizes. (PRNewsFoto)
photo Dr. Clif Cleaveland

Seventy-five years ago, the Japanese fleet that would launch the air attack on Pearl Harbor the following day reached a point 490 miles north of Hawaii's main island at 9 p.m. before turning southward.

The armada had departed Japan on Nov. 11, sailing undetected to the point where its aircraft took off the following dawn. The aerial assault began at 7:55 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, and dealt a devastating blow to the U.S. Pacific fleet and Naval Air Force. Three U.S. carriers that would decide the Battle of Midway the following June were at sea; otherwise, the destruction would have been complete.

The attack killed 2,403 military personnel, 1,177 perishing when the battleship Arizona exploded and sank. Sixty-eight civilians died. More than 1,200 military members and civilians were injured, many with serious burns.

Within hours, Japanese aircraft and soldiers attacked U.S. installations on Guam, which fell two days later, Wake Island, which fell on Dec. 23, and the Philippines. U.S. and Philippine forces surrendered on May 8, 1942, after a series of battles that resulted in more than 25,000 Allied deaths and tens of thousands of captives.

The U.S. declared war against Japan on Dec. 8. Germany and Italy declared war against the U.S. on Dec. 11.

Within this four-day interval, the U.S. was thrust from relative isolationism into a position of world leadership which it continues to hold. The lives of all of us would never be the same.

VE Day (May 8, 1945) and VJ Day (Aug. 15, 1945) launched raucous celebrations. To achieve those victories, 408,000 U.S. military personnel died, 670,000 were wounded, and 31,000 were missing. Worldwide, 21 to 25 million military and 29 to 30.5 million civilian deaths resulted from the war.

For a short interval, we thought that this would be the final widespread war of our lifetime.

During my years of clinical practice, I was privileged to take care of a number of veterans from the war. One had been a prisoner of the Germans for almost two years and had never fully regained health damaged by starvation. Another dealt with dependence on stimulants given to him during his years of combat flying.

Another watched from his position in the nose of a B-17 bomber as aircraft in his formation were shot down over Germany by anti-aircraft fire or fighter planes. Yet another man found great delight in his flower garden which he worked daily despite limbs withered from combat wounds sustained soon after D-Day.

Decades after the war, an uncle spoke of his high-pressure work as a code breaker in the Pacific theater. Even later, a cousin, an infantryman, reflected upon combat in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Southern France. In the latter invasion, the glider in which he flew was one of the few not to crash into wires strung across a landing field. Only a handful of his initial company survived the war.

I learned from these veterans that memories sometimes represent invisible wounds that may never heal.

I was kept safe and assured a future by countless men and women who mobilized to fight a brutal war on multiple fronts. Pearl Harbor Day is about remembrance and gratitude.

Contact Clif Cleaveland at ccleaveland@timesfreepress.com.

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