Pearl Harbor Day and Sargeant Dexter Wilson Fincher

Sgt. Dexter Wilson Fincher. 

I man I never met.  

A man I never even heard of…until December 7th, 2021.  

I have always had an interest and affinity for history, particularly World War 2 history.  I study it because I want to understand the conditions and mentality that leads to tyranny, so we can work to see the patterns well in advance and prevent similar tragedies from taking shape.  

Anyway, enough about my interest in World War 2, but it is important to touch on that interest to explain how and why I encountered Sgt Dexter Wilson Fincher.  

For many years now, I’ve wanted to go to Pearl Harbor on a noted anniversary of the attack.  While I have been to Pearl Harbor several times, I have not been there on December 7th to maybe meet some of the heroes who fought back that day and survived.  So, I cashed in air miles, took some vacation days and went.  Like most dreams or plans that we have, I should have done this trip much earlier.  I was fortunate to meet a couple of veterans who were there that day, including 100-year-old Mr Higgins, who was stationed on Ford Island and was there during the attack.  As I always do when I see a World War 2 veteran, I thanked Mr. Higgins and his buddies for their service, and for giving me the opportunity to live and raise my family in relative freedom and prosperity.  I also met a guy who had a grandfather and a great uncle who served on the USS Arizona.  They were twin brothers.  His grandfather survived, but his great uncle was lost in the attack.  Imagine living with that the rest of your life!  

I also ended up pointing out various details of the battle to them on a map overlooking the harbor and ended up with a small audience listening in and asking me questions, including a handful of the park rangers!

I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to go to the USS Arizona Memorial as part of one of the tour groups that were allowed to visit after the main commemoration and ceremony in the early morning hours at the actual time of the attack 80 years previous.  I arrived at the Arizona Memorial just after Noon and we were told to keep moving as we only had 10 minutes on the memorial.  The crowd slowly flowed to the back of the memorial with the list of names of those who perished 80 years ago plus the names of those who survived that day, lived fruitful lives, and chose to be buried at sea with their shipmates.  

As I made my way back toward the dock to catch the launch back to the visitors’ center, I noticed a Park Ranger standing next to a table with two baskets sitting on top of it.  In one basket were flower petals from Hawaiian leis.  The second basket contained small pieces of paper with the names of the heroes who perished that day.  Guests that day were invited to pick a name and a flower petal and toss the flower petal into the water above the ship in tribute to the person who’s name you picked. This is when the Universe introduced me to SGT Dexter Wilson Fincher, as his name was the one that I pulled from the basket.  (I actually pulled two pieces of paper, but one fell back into the basket.)

If you have ever been to the USS Arizona Memorial, you might actually see the ship “cry” or “bleed” drops of oil that escape the ship and rise to the surface…even 80 years later.  I have experienced this before where you will see a small oil slick between 6 inches to a foot in diameter, but I have never seen anything like I saw shortly after dropping that flower petal in the water.  It started out like the small slicks I had seen before, but this one did not stop…it kept going!  It got larger and larger and created the rainbow colors that you sometimes see when oil and water mix.  It was impressive…and I was not the only one who noticed.  

What was the message being sent?  Was it a message of “thanks” from those whom we honored in that moment?  Was it a message of “thanks” directed at me specifically for keeping their memories alive in a world that is quickly forgetting how close we came to losing everything?  I do not yet have specific answers to these questions, but I do believe that the Universe was sending me a message in a way that only the Universe could, and in a way that I would understand.  Something special happened that day and I will not forget it.

These are the types of things you see when you take the time to “look up.”  These are the messages the Universe sends you when you pay attention and keep your mind open.

Rest in peace, Sgt Fincher.  And I thank you, your shipmates, and your buddies from that Greatest Generation for all you did.  Thank you especially to all of those, like yourself, who paid the ultimate price, allowing us to inherit the world we live in today.  We owe it to all of them not to screw things up again. 

The most appropriate quote for today is from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“December 7th, 1941.  A date that will live in infamy.”

And instead of a Tom-ism today, I’m going to quote another song lyric.  If everyone would take this lyric to heart and live by it, we might actually have a chance to save the world.

“LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH, AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME.”

Again to all world leaders:  War is stupid.  Stop the hate!  Stop the killing!  Choose love!  Choose peace! 

GOTTA LOOK UP!