The Silver Lining

There is always a brighter side.

- DP Sabharwal

It was December 7, 1941, and Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert when he received a pager message that read: Important call, please attend. The caller was President Franklin Roosevelt who said, "You have been appointed Commander of the Pacific Fleet with immediate effect." The Japanese had launched the massive attack on Pearl Harbour just that morning, thus drawing the US into the World War II.

Admiral Nimitz landed at Pearl Harbour on Christmas Eve, 1941 and noticed a spirit of despair, dejection, and defeat as if the Japanese had already won the war. He went on a boat tour to see the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere he looked. On his return, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well, Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?"

Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone on the boat as he said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or perhaps God was taking care of America! Which do you think it was?" There was stunned silence that was broken by a feeble voice that asked, "and what were those mistakes, Sir?"

He responded:

First Mistake: The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of ten crewmen from each of the ships were ashore on leave. If the same ships had been lured to sea and then sunk, we would have lost 38,000 men, instead of 3,800.