December 7 1941

"On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, killing more than 2,300 Americans. The U.S.S. Arizona was completely destroyed and the U.S.S. Oklahoma capsized.  A total of twelve ships sank or were beached in the attack and nine additional vessels were damaged. More than 160 aircraft were destroyed and more than 150 others damaged."

Read : http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html.

I was one year and four days old.  Belgium had been under the nazi heel for more than 18 months and would remain so for about three years. And without the sacrifices of our allies we might have been under the murderous nazi regime even now.

In my (almost) three quarters of a century I have met my fair share of Americans and Germans ; I have met outstanding personalities and aggressive, greedy, untrustworthy people on both sides. Both countries have built their nationhood on legends, myths and on some grim fairy tales, and have shown a lot of similarities in their behavior.

In my lifetime, I have seen how America has been sliding down the hill and how Germany has won economic hegemony in Europe. But deep down, I cannot stop admiring the Americans and I continue to hold a deep distrust of the Germans.