CITY BEAT: ALWAYS REMEMBER DECEMBER 7, 1941 — THE ‘DAY OF INFAMY’

     Each year, as December 7th nears, I publish a reminder of that awful day in 1941, when Japanese planes attacked the U. S. fleet in Pearl Harbor — and plunged this nation into World War II.
     That’s the reason for retelling the story of the attack on Pearl Harbor in this week’s “Scrapbook” feature on pages 4-6 in the print and online editions.
     I was just an infant when the attack happened so I have no personal memories of the shock and anger it created in my family and families across the nation and world.
     However, as I grew older I saw the impact that World War II had on our family and community as Americans left their homes to go fight the enemy. My dad was stationed at Pearl Harbor when he was in the U. S. Navy — in the late 1930s before the attack.
Shortly after I became editor of this newspaper in 1969 I started interviewing those with personal memories of the attack and found that local men had been at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and lived to tell about it.
     They were in their late forties and early fifties when I first talked to them and that’s what is contained in some of this week’s “Scrapbook” story.
     Now, those survivors I interviewed have all passed away, but it remains important to remember what they experienced — and especially those who died at Pearl Harbor on that “Day of Infamy” that plunged our nation into war.

     • I’M PLEASED with last week’s announcement that former Decatur Mayor Mike “Tuna” McElroy will be the newest inductee to the Decatur Hall of Fame. (Story on page 7 of the print and online editions)

     Tuna, who passed away while in office in 2015, and I were elected to the Decatur City Council at the same time (2003). We were the two new faces on the council. He was elected a councilman and I was elected mayor.
     During the years I served, Tuna was my strongest supporter on council and stood with me on some of hardest decisions made during those years.
     We met often away from the council chambers to discuss what was confronting the city.
     After I left the mayor’s office, Tuna stopped by the newspaper one day to tell me that he was going to run for mayor and continue the work on the major issues and projects that were so important to the city.
     After he was elected, Tuna and I kept that relationship going and he came by the newspaper to chat from time to time.

     During one of those chats ten years ago, Tuna came by my office to inform me that I had been selected to be inducted into the Decatur Hall of Fame.
     For once, I was speechless, because I never expected it.
     A year later, Tuna came by the newspaper to discuss a concern of his and wanted to discuss it with someone who had once faced the same issue.
     It would be the last time we would meet — at least in this life.
     A few days later, City Manager Tim Gleason called me and I will never forget his words: “We’ve lost the mayor” which didn’t register at first because I immediately thought that it meant Tuna couldn’t be found.
After a few seconds of considering the statement, I realize that Tim was telling me that Tuna had passed away.
     It was quite a shock!

     • THERE is an irony to the Hall of Fame announcement that was made at the Community Thanksgiving Lunch-eon by Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe.
     The person who succeeded me as the next elected mayor was the one who announced my selection to the Hall of Fame and the next elected mayor who succeeded Tuna made the announcement that he would be on the Hall of Fame, too.
The Hall of Fame is located in the lobby of the Decatur Civic Center and the west wall contains the plaques of those in the Hall of Fame.
     I always considered it a great honor to have a plaque on that wall with so many others I have written about and appreciated over the years.
     Now, with the expectation of my closest co-hort on council, Mike “Tuna” McElroy, having a plaque on the wall, too, makes the honor even more significant to me.

     • FOOTBALL FUN — The IHSA football playoffs were of special interest this year with three area teams — Maroa-Forsyth, Monticello and Mount Zion — all making it to the championship game at Hancock Stadium in Normal last Friday. (Photos on pages 14 and 15 of the print and online editions)
     Although each team did not win their respective championship game, they still had tremendous seasons.
It was the first time in Mount Zion High School’s history that it had advanced to the championship game and that created a lot of excitement in our neighboring town — and in Decatur, too!
     Congratulations to Maroa-Forsyth, Monticello and Mount Zion on outstanding high school football seasons.

     • PARADE — The annual Decatur Christmas Parade will be held downtown on Dec. 7, stepping off at 4:00 p.m.
The parade will begin on Franklin and Macon Streets and head north. It turns west on North Street, then head south on Main Street, ending at Main and Macon Streets.
     For many years the parade was held in the morning but several years ago it was switched to the late afternoon in order for the Christmas lights in the parade to be more visible after dark.
     The Christmas Season in our community is definitely underway and the parade will add to the excitement.

     • THE BEST — I received a nice handwritten note from longtime friend Helen Albert of Blue Mound who indicated that she will be retiring in April and moving to a part-time job.
     “Just cannot give it all up yet,” she wrote.

     I met Helen almost 30 years ago as she worked in executive positions over the years with Illinois State Sen-ators Duane No-land, Frank Wat-son, and Kyle McCarter and U.S. Rep. Rodney Da-vis, R-Taylorville.
Helen was my contact for all of those elected officials and she did an amazing job for them and their constituents while each served in office.
     She made sure that anytime I needed to talk to any of those officials, they were available.
She called numerous times to set up appointments for U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis to come to the newspaper and chat about what was going on in our district — and in the nation’s capitol.
     Today, many of our elected officials depend on their Facebook account, or some other digital media playform, to inform constituents what they are doing without the benefit of answering any reporter or editor’s questions — and not realizing that many of their district’s constituents do not go online or check out Facebook,
     Anyhoo, Helen always did a great job.
     As she wrote in her note to me: “We had quite a run working together the last almost 30 years.”
We sure did and all the best to Helen and her husband.

     • I READ a quotation on Facebook recently that stated: “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
Signed: Abraham Lincoln

     • I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co., every Thursday morning at 7:00.

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