When I was a Manhattan bike messenger, I sluiced through taxis, delivery trucks, buses and pedestrians with craned necks.
But I had nothing on this courier:
The photo is fabricated, but it symbolizes a real story: A Japanese-American bicycle messenger pedaled through the attack on Pearl Harbor with a message for General Walter Short, who was in charge of defending it.
The message? A warning of an attack.
Japan had intended to issue a declaration of war half an hour before the attack. The US Army had already decrypted the message the evening before, and had dispatched alerts to all Pacific-area commands. But communication problems delayed receipt of the warning in Honolulu.
Meanwhile, bureaucrats in the Japanese embassy were slow in decoding, typing and delivering the formal message to Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
The result is, of course, the “surprise “ attack. And the bike messenger, who was sent out some time after 7:30 local time, when the warning arrived, was caught in the rain of bombs and bullets at 7:55 am. Two hours later, he arrived, with the message.
Richard Masoner wryly wonders whether that messenger received a tip for his troubles. He certainly deserved it: I got tips for much less!
P.S. Today is the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. There are very few remaining survivors. This may well be their last opportunity to collectively commemorate the event.
(Photo from Richard Masoner’s blog, Cyclelicious.)
No comments:
Post a Comment