St Pauls Cathedral High School - Book and Sword Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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Then — Pearl llaiixn! Ihc ' -houls ol a uniml i)C()|)lc i( hoid lioin Xi ' ' ()rk lo Caliloniia. Iroiu Cicorgia lo Alaska, ihc sucl ()rker in Pittsburgh pul out giuis and machine [)aris at an inie(iuale(l rate and the bov next door was now in an arniv cani|) polishing up his gun just as his forefathers had done in 1773 and iiis own father in l!)i7. Once more we were brothers. .Again e were assiued that no more East is East and West is West and nc er the twain shall meet, ' e were unitedl Perhaps we felt that close kin of brotherhood hen the first settler came to .American soil to start the l inlding oi a new nation. These were the hard oppressed jjeoples of Einope throwing otl their chains and shackles glorying in freedotn ' s lightl Or as it fully realized on No em- ber 3, 1791. when the Bill of Rights was adopted as the first ten amend- ments to the Constitution? Freedom of speech, the press, religion, trial bv jury — you ' ve heard them repeated inniunerable times. These were the pri ileges that boinul the struggling peo])le of this nation to- gether in that historic time. 1 he .Vmericans of 1942 have realized more than c cr before what a precious gift these rights are. We bound to- gether to keep this great gift bec|uealhed to us by the .Americans of 1791. We had ne er really known how manv foreign enemies ere w aiting to take these rights away from us innil the first bomb descended on the shores of Ha- s-aii. Now that e do know it is all oiu for ictory. ' Vhat would Abraham Lincoln say if he .saw the little girl in Texas buying defense stamps? Voulcl he smile at the chagrin ot the men of the Reich and of the Rising Sun when they hear of the bond of unity, the spirit of sacrifice of every American young and old, and the extent of our defense program? .And Tvouldn ' t he be happ - to know that the men at the plough and in the factory were again shaking hands and the cotton jilanter looked up from his ork long enough to smile at the fisherman in Maine? Vhat would he think? Perhaps ve can know ilie ans-( ers if we look back to No embcr 19. ISIi.S. There in a ccnKlcr in Gettysburg stood a tired man who licld the nation together in ih.u time of strife. It is i;illur lor us lo l)c here dedii ;ili(l to ihc i;ri:il l:isk rc ' iiiaininn IicIoh ' us . . . tlial liom lliisr lionorcd (lead we lakr iiunasctl iKxoliou lo llial cause lor which ilicv ,na c the hisi lull measure ol devotion . . . iliai we here hi, ;hly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain . . . dial ihis nation, under (.od. shall have a new hirih of freedom . . . and thai government ol die people, bv the peoj)le. for the people shall not perish from tai ih. Tl iis. Lincoln spoke to the belie ers in a New Order: he must have yhisperecl tlie same words at Pearl Harbor. Did the Pearl Harbor bovs die in ain? Will iliis freedom perish from the earth? Did Pearl Harbor make stronger lliai spirit of ' 63? Perhaps a few years from now. Hitler, if he ' s still alive, will be writing a secpiel to Mf ' i)i Kamj)l. story of great defeat i) the .American arinv. naw. air corps, and marines, but most cjf all. i)y thai imiled American spiinl!

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«1 Editor ' s Note: The joUnwing essays loon first and third fnizcs, rrsj)cr- th el , in the district division i l tlic Unity for Vi(t()r Essay Contest sjionsored by the Ladies ' Auxiliaries to the i ' eterans of foyeigii IIV i.v. UNITY FOR VICTORY ;v Mar(;aret Cummins, ' 43 In 1456. when the Bible was taken from the jninting press, a means of educating the world had been dexised. ' hen the first radio sent forth its message, a means of conunimication with other parts of the ■world vas completed. These vere the dreams of dreamers come true. Call it a bond of union or a miracle of invention; essentially it was the right of one human being to know another. The right of an . merican to shake hands with a Chinaman, and, although they had never met be- fore, to feel that they were l)rolhers. In the United States, the courageous of all nations were brothers. They built their log houses together, they hoped together, they prayed together, they thanked Cod together. They crossed the mountains, cu t down forests, himted and planted and built a ne v nation of brothers. But as time went on, this order changed. In the North there were now factories employing people: there were the cotton planters in the Soiuh: in the ' West the hardv men tinned the soil of new states and in the East the fishermen were pulling in the net and casting the rod. VV e spread out over a vast land. Different occupations called us. dillerent ways of life. We were separated as never before. The people in ihe West forgot about their neighbors in the East. How long could a nation so divided in opinion and ihought hold together as one? The years passed s viftly. A s siem of smooth high vays ran across the nation. The businessman of the North ' as now walking along the palm lined streets of Florida and the farmer or cattleman of the West was asking an Easterner the be st wav to catch a trout. A New ' orker boarded a transcontinental airplane and awoke the next day in Calilor- nia. . little girl in Texas (ailed her grandmother in Wisconsin. But o er in Europe oilui things were happening. . (kiinan l)()v, whose brother vas a farmer in Dakota, was learning to goose-step and carrv a gun. . n Italian, whose sister was a clerk in a big de])ariment store in Philadelphia, was saluting his militarv leader in Italy, while a Japanese, whose cousin was sludving in an .American university, was the soldier of an empire Avhic ii taught the principle of a long revenge.

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AMERICAN UNITY CREED ;) ' Eileen Hunt, ' 42 I BELIEVE in the United States of America. I BELIEVE in Americans. Americans are iniited in thouglit: Cireat movements vhich ulti- mately meet with success have one thing in connnon — the imity ' ith which those identified with them tackle the job they ha e set for themsehes. . . . And to the extent to which these segments ol a nation are imified that nation will be s trong. ' That is Avhat an American aiuhor has to say about ■ ' iniity. Frances Cialardi. a Ca- thedral High School stndent says, Well, if ve want to win tiiis war we have no other choice but to unite. Not only must •e unite in feeling but in labor and in economics if we ever hope to succeed. A mother says. My son is fighting for America — a unified America, not one that is at ' sixes-and-sevens ' because of a dastardly attack made upon her, but one that has gathered her v ' its and is — not unit- ing, but united! That is what America is thinking. Americans are united in thought. 1 BELIEVE in Americans. Americans are imiied in purpose. The stu- dent, the housewife, the father are all joining hands to push Amer- ica on to victory. Ihey are sacrificing their autc mobiles, their cos- metics, their sugar, and wearing apparel. Lhey are ariuing them- selves with buckets of sand and with emotional stability. They are driving on to ards one glorious goal. Americans are united in purpose.