History remembered

I got one of those "shame on you" letters in my e-mail over the weekend. These are the letters we get from time to time from folks who are extra-incensed over something they read in the newspaper ... or, in this case, something they didn't read. The subject line was "history forgotten":

Shame on you. Today is Dec 7 and you did not even mention the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which started WWII. Plus, one of your town's long time residents, Larry Katz, is a veteran of that fateful attack and served throughout the rest of the war flying PBY patrol planes in the famous Black Cats squadron, VP22.

A couple of points are worth noting.

One, the CN has actually featured Mr. Katz on several occasions in the past. Indeed, he does have an interesting story to tell. And we've told that story several times.

Second, we actually did note the significance of the date in the "This Day in History" feature on Page 6 of the newspaper. Admittedly, it was a pretty small item.

That said, I think the gentleman who sent the e-mail has a fair enough point. It would have been nice to have done something of greater significance to commemorate the "Day of Infamy" in Friday's newspaper.

But the challenge from this end is: what? How do we, as a newspaper, commemorate this part of history, without being completely redundant in the information we provide our readers?

Besides that, there is the question of what role a daily newspaper should play as a source for historical information. After all, there are numerous dates of historical significance throughout the year. Dec. 7 is Pearl Harbor day. June 6 is Normandy Day. May 8 is V-E Day. Aug. 15 is V-J Day. Aug. 6 is the day Hiroshima was bombed. And these are just WWII dates.

Consider the other dates of historical significance:

Sept. 17 marks the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history. July 1-3 marks the Battle of Gettysburg. April 9 marks the anniversary of Lee's surrender to Grant. April 14 is the date of Lincoln's assassination. Sept. 17 is the date the U.S. Constitution was adopted. April 19 marks the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the "Shot Heard Round the World." Dec. 17 is the date of the Wright Brothers' first flight. April 15 is when the Titanic sunk. July 21 is the day man first walked on the moon. July 4 is obviously Independence Day. The list goes on and on.

Obviously, the task of "remembering history" is a daunting one. And I doubt that any newspaper can adequately commemorate each date of historical significance, while simultaneously reporting the news of the day.

But still, we do have a role to play in marking history, and we try to do so. That's why we have the "Today in History" feature every day in the newspaper. Do some historical events warrant bigger and bolder coverage? Sure. Is Dec. 7 one of those days? That's a perfectly valid opinion.

The challenge before newspaper editors is making the decision of what dates to commemorate, when to mark history in a big, bold fashion, and how to do it in a creative manner. In the eyes of some, we no doubt came up short last Friday. But we continue to strive to meet the needs of our readers. And we certainly do our best to "remember history."