Friday, February 26, 2010

Lieutenant Colonel Kermit Tyler...

...died at the age of 96 last month. Not only was he saddled with that unfortunate first name, but he secured an ignominious place in history by uttering four simple words:

It was a few minutes after 7 o’clock in the morning, Dec. 7, 1941. Lt. Kermit Tyler, an Army fighter pilot, was manning the aircraft tracking center at Fort Shafter in Hawaii, near the vast Pearl Harbor naval base, when he received a phone call from a nearby radar station. Two Army privates watching the screen reported picking up a large group of approaching planes.

Lt. Tyler's response?

“Don’t worry about it.”

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