Someone once quipped we know how many survivors of the Titanic are living (none now), and we always seem to know how many Triple Crown winners there have been (now 12, after a 37 year drought that had the number stuck at 11), what else will we keep track of?
The WSJ today has a photo, front page, above the fold, of Robert Coles, a 92 year-old survivor of Pearly Harbor, having joined the Navy at 17 right out of a New York high school, and finding himself assigned to a destroyer that was not badly damaged by the onslaught. The New York Times has nothing on its front page that reminds you today is the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Why would I not be surprised?
Mr. Coles is resplendent and fit in his dress Chief's uniform, with enough hash marks to give an embroider cramps in their fingers. Mr. Coles, obviously stayed in the Navy and retired from it. His first job, but I'm sure not his last.
Adding 75 to 2001 gives you a far-out-there number of 2076. As for myself, I was in my 50s when I got down from the 29th floor of Tower One, the day lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and an out-of-control plane crashing in Pennsylvania all became part of what the NYT captured in its headline the next day: U.S. Attacked.
I have rolled that headline over in my head many times, and I've always found it to be lacking. It's accurate, but lacking. I have no alternative headline. It's already happened.
It's not too likely there were many 17 year-olds at the Pentagon or the Trade Center. There was a day care center at WTC, so, like the Titanic, babies and children will count. The estimates have been that there were 25,000 survivors at WTC that day. That's a lot of survivors. Easily there could have been some fairly young office workers, or military people about, but how many will be alive in 2076?
Someone will be counting by then.
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