On Friday, Dec. 7, 2014, I guest-taught a high school agriculture class because the subject was something I know a bit about. After relating basic facts on that topic, I decided to finish up my time on a different subject. I didn’t think anyone would care. After all, it was Dec. 7.

Most of you know that is Pearl Harbor Day. The Japanese bombed U.S. ships and nearby barracks and airstrips on Dec. 7, 1941, creating the day that would “live in infamy.” To my surprise, only one of 14 students in the class knew what day it was.

I asked the ag teacher to quiz her classes. Out of some 120 students, only a couple knew it was Pearl Harbor Day. Have we forgotten about history? If students don’t learn about Pearl Harbor and its significance in U.S. history, what are they being taught today?

Special significance
Hopefully those 14 students in the class I taught will remember Pearl Harbor next year, even if they don’t remember how to read a fertilizer analysis or understand variable-rate fertilizer application.

I told them this true story:

My father, the late Robert Bechman, was in his quarters at the Army base in Hawaii early on Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941. He was writing a love letter to the lady who would later become my mom, Virginia Fern Housefield. It was her birthday! She was born Dec. 7, 1920.

BIRTHDAY TO REMEMBER: Most people remember their 21st birthday. My mother remembered it for a different reason than most — her boyfriend was under attack in Hawaii as she turned 21 in Indiana.

My father was assigned to a searchlight unit. Because he had farming experience, he helped grow tomatoes and pineapples during the day and ran searchlights at night. The searchlights were partially hidden in the fields.

His letter-writing was interrupted shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time. Although he didn’t talk about the war until I was nearly out of high school, once he reunited with his Army buddies, he never stopped talking about it.

I remember him describing how the Japanese pilots flying solo in planes with the big red suns near the tail flew so low he could almost see their eyes. He and his comrades didn’t wait for weapons to be passed out; they jumped the desk that led to the guns and grabbed what they needed, then went outside and began firing at planes.

PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR: George Robert Bechman, my father, was in the Army and at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack.

Important lesson
Did these high school seniors grasp the importance of what I was telling them? After all, they were only babies, not during Pearl Harbor, but during the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, which is the event they relate most to today. 

They listened intently, and when I showed them a video that is shown at the Pearl Harbor Memorial, via the internet, they didn’t say a word.

Then I took a chance. I asked them to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, if they wanted, in honor of my father and mother, as the class closed. Everyone stood, and everyone recited the pledge.

Did they get the message? Did they understand there are things bigger than themselves and more important than, yes, even soil testing or welding or tractor brands? Will they understand that when we celebrate Presidents Day, it should be thought of as more than a day off from school or work?

For America to remain free, we need people who remember 9/11. But we also need those who remember Pearl Harbor. And we need more than two out of over 100 teenagers to remember. Let’s hope at least a few of the 14 I talked with that day took the message to heart.

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