Posted on 12/07/2005 12:50:27 AM PST by bd476
The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.Many more photos and history at Naval Historical Center
Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese agression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable.
By late November 1941, with peace negotiations clearly approaching an end, informed U.S. officials (and they were well-informed, they believed, through an ability to read Japan's diplomatic codes) fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. Completely unanticipated was the prospect that Japan would attack east, as well.
The U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy secretly sent one across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the World's oceans. Its planes hit just before 8AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead. Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.
These great Japanese successes, achieved without prior diplomatic formalities, shocked and enraged the previously divided American people into a level of purposeful unity hardly seen before or since. For the next five months, until the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, Japan's far-reaching offensives proceeded untroubled by fruitful opposition. American and Allied morale suffered accordingly. Under normal political circumstances, an accomodation might have been considered.
However, the memory of the "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination to fight on. Once the Battle of Midway in early June 1942 had eliminated much of Japan's striking power, that same memory stoked a relentless war to reverse her conquests and remove her, and her German and Italian allies, as future threats to World peace.
Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
A Japanese Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Plane ("Kate") takes off from a carrier as the second wave attack is launched. Ship's crewmen are cheering "Banzai"
This ship is either Zuikaku or Shokaku.
Note light tripod mast at the rear of the carrier's island, with Japanese naval ensign.
Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph
Torpedo planes attack "Battleship Row" at about 0800 on 7 December, seen from a Japanese aircraft.
Ships are, from lower left to right: Nevada (BB-36) with flag raised at stern; Arizona (BB-39) with Vestal (AR-4) outboard; Tennessee (BB-43) with West Virginia (BB-48) outboard; Maryland (BB-46) with Oklahoma (BB-37) outboard; Neosho (AO-23) and California (BB-44).
West Virginia, Oklahoma and California have been torpedoed, as marked by ripples and spreading oil, and the first two are listing to port.
Torpedo drop splashes and running tracks are visible at left and center.
White smoke in the distance is from Hickam Field. Grey smoke in the center middle distance is from the torpedoed USS Helena (CL-50), at the Navy Yard's 1010 dock.
Japanese writing in lower right states that the image was reproduced by authorization of the Navy Ministry.
Talking with three other sailors and a civilian, during his visit to the Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois, January 7th, 1943.
Imagine seeing a huge wall of fire yet you have to get by it, while your ship has taken on water. Yet you must stay on board, in one case orders came from yet another ship across the way.
The USS Tennessee's Captain or surviving most Senior Officer ordered all personnel to remain on the USS West Virginia until they received further orders.
Meanwhile you're firing a machine gun for which you received no training and more fire is heading towards your ship on oil trails spreading across the water from a sinking ship. Bombs continue dropping all around you from the overhead enemy planes.
But you were in the Army and it's not hard to imagine that you have your own harrowing memories gathered while serving our country.
Thank you for your service to our country.
Somewhere I have a great photo of my Dad in a foxhole while he was on some island somewhere in the South Pacific. When I was very young, I heard a frightening story about that scene. But when I asked him a few years ago, the subject was changed.
I'm not sure he'd want me to dig much deeper.
It seems like just about everyone in the Navy who were from the Midwest went through Great Lakes Naval Training Center. I wonder if your Dad and mine were there at the same time.
Cool postcards.
The middle postcard looks very familiar.
A Marine rifle squad fires a volley over the bodies of fifteen officers and men killed at Naval Air Station Kanoehe Bay during the Pearl Harbor raid. These burial ceremonies took place on 8 December 1941, the day after the attack.
Note sandbagged emplacement atop the small hill in the right middle distance.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives
Following Hawaiian tradition, Sailors honor men killed during the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Naval Air Station Kaneohe, Oahu.
The casualties had been buried on 8 December. This ceremony took place sometime during the following months, possibly on Memorial Day, 31 May 1942.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
Don't miss the History Channel documentary that offers material for (unbiased and non-political) thought on both sides of this question.
History Channel: Conspiracy
Wednesday, December 7
The attack on Pearl Harbor shocked the nation. To many, the official explanations of misguided assumptions and missed clues did not account for the enormity of the catastrophe. We examine "alternative" theories that arose soon after the attack. Was a plot hatched in Washington to solve FDR's "problem"--convincing a reluctant country to fight the Nazis? Did FDR send a secret cable just days before the attack ordering Pearl Harbor chiefs to stand down? Did US intelligence intercept a message from Tokyo asking its spies in Hawaii to map the harbor for an imminent air attack? More than six decades later, the controversy boils under the surface of recent US history, igniting heated debates over collusion, intrigue, and thousands of American dead. (put in search terms)
http://www.historychannel.com/thcsearch/thc_search.do
Conspiracy?: FDR and Pearl Harbor.
Wednesday, December 07 @ 5pm ET
Examine the evidence and decide for yourself.
Filled with riveting footage and survivor testimony.
Hear why some people believe that the attack was not a surprise.
The attack on Pearl Harbor shook the nation to its roots. But to some, official explanations of misguided assumptions and missed clues did not account for the enormity of the catastrophe. CONSPIRACY examines alternative theories about the events leading up to December 7, 1941.
Was a plot hatched in Washington to solve FDR's ""problem"" of convincing a reluctant country to fight the Nazis? Did FDR send a secret cable just days before the attack ordering Pearl Harbor chiefs to stand down? Did U.S. intelligence intercept a message from Tokyo asking its spies in Hawaii to map the harbor for an imminent air attack? More than six decades later, the controversy still bubbles, and our experts probe for substance beneath the sensational assertions.
Conspiracy?: FDR and Pearl Harbor DVD
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=73190&browseCategoryId=&location=&parentcatid=&subcatid=
As did mine, Aviation Machinest's Mate W. L. Parker, Pearl Harbor Survivor (USS Louisville).
Heard on the radio this morning that in 1991 there were still 19,000 Pearl Harbor Survivors. Today there are only 5,800. The average age of the Pearl Harbor Survivors is 86 so age is catching up with them.
Here in WA state, there is a tag that the Pearl Harbor folks can have on their autos. It says: Pearl Harbor Survivor. That is exactly what they did, somehow, they managed under that hail of fire, to survive. There are a few of those tags around. But, you rarely see one now days, as most of those brave souls have left us.
bump!
I have been aquainted with two men who were survivors of Pearl Harbor. One, Ken Kriesse was on a destroyer that was not hit, but to this day he says he is haunted by the japs strafing the burned sailors in the water. The other Lee embry was on one of the B-17s flying unarmed into Hickam Field as the attack was going on. He leaned out a waist gunners position with his "brownie" box camera to take a picture of the jap zero on their tail as it was about to shoot them down.. Apparently the jap pilot thought he was manning a waist gun (left in San Franciso to save weight), and instead of shooting the B-17 down veered off, allowing them to land.
I'll be seeing Ken at the special dinner at our V.F.W. Post tonight to honor the Pearl Harbor and W.W. II Vets.. Semper Fi.
What your friend stated concerning the Jap planes strafing our burned sailor's while attempting to save themselves in the water, is something which shall never pass. While your other friend in the B-17 was very fortunate they were able to land.
Some Americans today do not realize how much our servicemen sacrificed to keep them free.
Semper Fi.
Say what?
I challenge you to do an interview with your local high school students. American History is no longer taught. They spend all day debating whether they want Sally Slut of the Sisters for Vaginal Awareness to be their next speaker at the next assembly, or should it be the local spokesperson for the Socialists of America against US Imperialism.
Then the bell rings and school is done for the day. No science, no math, and certainly no American History for the day. Just more debate on the next school assembly speaker.
Today's kids don't know the significance of Pearl Harbor nor of Boston Harbor. But, they do get tot watch fellow students have sex with each other in the hallways.
Thanks for that updated data concerning the 5,800 Pearl Harbor Survivors still living.
I was thinking of posting it as "real America will never forget" but I decided against it.
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