Remembering Pearl Harbor

The abominable and repulsive column by Honan exceeds the sickest form of ambulance-chasing by any journalist and creates a new zenith for writers seeking notoriety via manufactured controversy. Perhaps his watering down of atrocities is in keeping with the current redefinitions under the guise of being “politically correct” and the U.S. becoming a kinder and gentler nation--and get on with business.

His exoneration of Admiral Yamamoto and Japan for the “surprise” attack that Sabbath morning 50 years ago and blaming a British naval authority for attack plans in a book published in 1925 elevate the term brain-dead to a mild symptom status. Lastly, he proposes a summit meeting at Pearl Harbor next Dec. 7 of President Bush and Japan’s Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa to “. . . announce meaningful mutual concessions to help ease present tensions.” At the site Japanese airmen “mugged” the U.S. Navy. In this day and age of immoral disrespect, why not? A note stated Honan has been a journalist for more than 30 years. The hundreds of dead American defenders entombed in the Arizona have been dead for 50 years. The Japanese can rewrite their history books and Honan can propagandize until hell freezes over, but they cannot “remodel” history or erase my memory.

MAX ST. YVES

Newport Beach