Remember Pearl Harbor
We are approaching the 81st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. At 7 a.m. on that fateful Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched 351 aircraft in their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Many of the 145 ships anchored there were bombed, killing over 2,400 Americans.
The country’s eight major battleships were sunk or badly damaged. Hickam Field, Wheeler Field and 347 American aircraft were also destroyed. Bullet holes at Hickam caused by strafing from Japanese aircraft are still visible to this day.
That sneak attack – that day of infamy – was the first salvo in America’s entry into World War II. The assault on Pearl Harbor propelled our country into World War II against the Axis powers of Imperial Japan, National Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy. Thirteen million men and women served in the military during America’s three and a half years of involvement in this war. About 405,000 lost their lives during World War II, of which 292,000 were combat-related.
What an awesome price has been paid by those in uniform, their families, and every American citizen to keep the Western world free from the evils and tyranny of absolute despotism.
The ships that were bombed and torpedoed at Pearl Harbor have been scrapped, salvaged or repaired and returned to active service – except one.
The USS Arizona was so badly damaged that only a small portion of its fallen crew could be recovered. Consequently, Arizona became a sailors’ memorial and a national monument. Arizona rests exactly where she sank 81 years ago, her deck still visible just below the waterline at low tide. Buried below her deck, some 1,100 sailors still serve our country – forever. They remind us of the ultimate sacrifices that were made during World War II to keep our nation and the world safe from the Axis of Evil that plagued the globe at that time.
Let us never forget the sacrifices that were made at Pearl Harbor. On December 7, let’s pause for a moment to reflect on those who paid the ultimate price to preserve freedom. The events of December 7, 1941 should reinforce a valuable lesson: freedom is never free.
John Di Genio, Jersey City
people always pay
Ron Simoncini is wrong in the article “Jersey City plans to ban homeowners from selling homes until they replace lead water pipes” (November 25).
He says the owners have “absorbed” the costs that were previously paid for by the city.
The city acts as an agent, collecting money through taxes and distributing it as it sees fit. Even when it comes to a business tax, the business builds its tax cost into the price it charges people. In the end, people always pay.
Carl Hoetzl, Bayonne
Advantages of the star model
If I may preface this letter outlining my 54 years of experience providing social and human service assistance programs in Hudson County: In the 1980s, in the mental health field, I served within the County Health and Human Services Department/Institutions Division under which Hudson County Meadowview Hospital (psychiatric and mental health services includes substance abuse) involving over 700 patients and BS Pollak Hospital involving 460 long-term care patients . I was a member of the Hudson County Mental Health Board and other organizations involved in mental health services involving children, youth, and adults in the county.
I maintain information and issues within the mental health system and focus my interest in diagnosis, counseling/treatment in children and note with vigor Governor Phil Murphy’s interest and attention to children and their treatment within the framework of mental health services. The Murphy administration, according to published reports (“After Outcry, Murphy Halts Plan to Eliminate Popular NJ School Mental Health Programs,” Nov. 17), plans to move forward with a plan separate to create a statewide processing network. the school campus.
The governor is quoted as saying: “We took a step back and said these programs (school-based youth services) are great, but we felt we needed to cast a wider net. Because everyone’s mental health has been impacted by this pandemic.
The governor also said that “people should expect an announcement in the next few days that the state will have both programs at least for a while. We’re going to be very comfortable funding programs that already exist, but we’re also going to implement this hub-and-spoke notion to expand that network.
Recently, the Commissioner for Children and Families announced a statewide plan called the New Jersey Statewide Student Support Network that would provide school assemblies, workshops, mentorship programs, and offsite counseling for students who need the most help.
Controversy exists between those who want to maintain school programs and the integration of the “hub-and-spoke” model which would consist of a number of mental health centers that would serve one or more counties. The center would be made up of a director, a deputy director and mental health clinicians. There would be three levels, or levels, of intervention: school activities to discourage bullying and other disruptive behavior, mentoring or small group sessions for at-risk students, and connections for outside counseling. from school.
It is clear that there is a need for improvement and additions within the mental health network for children. Too often the child is assessed too quickly and sometimes sent to a hospital to assess the child to be sent to a mental health facility without a thorough examination of the circumstances involving the individual child. Sadly, the pressures and complications of young people today, whether in elementary/high school, middle school, or high school, are far more intense than when this writer grew up in the 1950s and early 1960s. .
We commend our Governor who has a proven record of providing health, safety and well-being to all of our residents, from elementary through high school, middle school through high school and beyond into adulthood and then into high school.
Robert B. Knapp, Jersey City
Send letters to the editor and guest columns of the Jersey Journal to jjletters@jjournal.com.
#attack #Pearl #Harbor #resonates #People #pay #Wise #continue #pursue #hubandspoke #mental #health #model #Letters