Our V-C Day will come soon

On March 2, just a few innocent weeks ago, I traveled to New Orleans with my son, Sam, a freshman at the University of Tennessee at Martin. It was his Spring Break, so we decided to take advantage of low airline prices (possibly due to some strange virus that was happening overseas) and visit NOLA, a place I’d never been.

We stayed at a haunted hotel in the French Quarter. (Seriously. There were footprints on the 15-foot ceiling of our room.) Our first day involved air travel, a remarkably strong but yummy Hurricane drink, a ghost tour, and a stroll around Bourbon Street. Even for a former hippie musician like myself, the debauchery of those few blocks was impressive. I’m proud to say, however, that I did come away with a few bead necklaces, tossed to me from on high. (I’ll spare you the imagery of what I had to do to earn them.)

Anyway, our second day featured the real reason we went: the National WWII Museum. Sam and I arrived when the doors opened and spent nearly the entire day wandering around its amazing halls. At once, it was sad, humbling, and filled us both with enormous patriotic pride, especially when we encountered actual WWII veterans, a couple with whom we were able to visit.

After all the many exhibits we perused and films we watched — often filled with vivid scenes of heroic battle — I may have been most impressed by what happened within our country’s mainland during those terrible four years: the mobilization of America. On Dec. 7, 1941, as the Japanese Empire rained bombs on America’s navy at Pearl Harbor, our leaders realized that we were woefully unprepared for a global war. We were, at best, a second-rate country in terms of military might. Four years later, though, America emerged as the world’s first superpower.

Was this because our soldiers were such amazing and dedicated warriors? Partly, yes. But mostly, it was because every man, woman, and child in the U.S. mobilized to confront a common enemy. Overnight, America focused its collective genius, muscle, prayer, and good old-fashioned common sense towards a single cause — supporting our young military in the struggle against Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan.

All kinds of personal sacrifices were made during those years as nearly every scrap of metal, barrel of oil, and case of canned food was diverted to the war effort. People in cities grew “victory” gardens in their backyards and on their patios. Towns devastated by the loss of so many of their young men pulled together in amazing displays of volunteerism. America’s industrial community quickly re-fitted its machinery and began churning our tanks, aircraft, and weaponry on an unimaginable scale. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered and the war was over. America proved to the world that once its mind was set, it could do anything.

So, here we are 75 years later and, again, we are faced with an evil enemy — this time, microscopic. Although the circumstances are vastly different, America’s response, I believe, will be much the same. We will mobilize, overlook our differences, and pull together. We will suffer tragic losses, find comfort in each other’s prayers and volunteerism, and come out the other side infinitely stronger than when we went in. At the risk of sounding like a cliché-ish presidential speech, we need to remember that Americans have a rich history of not taking crap off of anyone — or anything — when our citizens are attacked and our way of life is threatened, whether that threat is posed by an evil government, a devastating weather event or natural disaster, or an insidious pandemic. We’ve got this. Our V-C Day — Victory Over Coronavirus — will come soon.

Here’s wishing you all good health, adequate toilet paper, and a strong resolve. Better times are a’comin’.