Tuesday, December 7, 2010

A Day to Reflect

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations it is appropriate to pause for a few minutes today to reflect on the events of this day sixty-nine years ago -- December 7, 1941 -- the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Five years ago I spent a day at Pearl Harbor learning about the events of that Sunday morning. I spent quite a bit of time on board the great battleship Missouri where the Japanese finally surrendered. There was no guided tour and I was free to just roam around reading things, looking at things, and thinking about things. In one of the rooms I found an old ledger and started leafing through it. On one of the pages a name jumped out at me -- Robert Bruening. Robert Bruening was a former member of our ward! I began to read. I had not known this before, but Brother Bruening served in the mail room of the USS Missouri, and if my memory serves me correctly, he would have been there at the time of the signing of the peace treaty. As I then later stood on the very spot where the treaty was signed and thought about our dear friend Bob, it was a very poignant experience. Take a few minutes and watch this historical event. Today I am thinking how grateful I am (at this season of "Peace, goodwill to men") for all of the brave men and women who serve and have served our country to gain or preserve Peace and Goodwill during my lifetime.

1 comment:

Aprilyn said...

Oh wow! I didn't know that about Bro. Bruening. Thanks for sharing this Judy. I watched the video. What a tragic war that was.