1941: Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor

BBC ^ | BBC

[Dubya]

Japan has launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and has declared war on Britain and the United States.

The US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, has mobilised all his forces and is poised to declare war on Japan.

Details of the attack in Hawaii are scarce but initial reports say Japanese bombers and torpedo-carrying planes targeted warships, aircraft and military installations in Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, the third largest and chief island of Hawaii.

News of the daring raid has shocked members of Congress at a time when Japanese officials in Washington were still negotiating with US Secretary of State Cordell Hull on lifting US sanctions imposed after continuing Japanese aggression against China.

[Dubya]

[GonzoII]

Thanks for posting.

[STONEWALLS]

...it was on a Sunday morning too....my Dad’s reserve unit had already been called up so he was in uniform....he told my Mother something to the effect...”don’t worry, this will be over quickly....a little island country like that won’t be much trouble to defeat”.....famous last words on his part!!....he didn’t come home til March of ‘1946 because his outfit was also part of the army of occupation.

....please share with us your family’s stories regarding this Day of Infamy...it will be a way of keeping this day alive....thank you.

[Proud2BeRight]

Yes, thanks for posting. God bless my Father and Father-in-Law for their service in the South Pacific.

[ETL]

[Dubya]

The next day, President Roosevelt called the attack on Pearl Harbor “a day that will live in infamy” and America declared war on Japan ending its policy of isolationism.

[Dubya]

Pearl Harbor also united an outraged American nation behind President Roosevelt and behind the war against Japan, and failed to destroy the major US ships , the aircraft carriers.

[Northern Yankee]

One of our neighbors, Will Lehner, was on the US Ward. He saw the Conning tower of the Japanese sub get hit as it was trying to sneak into Pearl Harbor on that fateful day. Will was manning one of the guns.

A few years back he was invited to go down and look for it with Robert Ballard. Will tried to tell him they were looking in the wrong area, while searching in a submarine. Ballard never listened. Consequently they never found it.

6 months later 2 university students from Japan found it, on the advice of Will Lehner.

[CindyDawg]

My grandfather told me some things about this when I was 4 or 5. I’m trying to remember the details. I do remember that he took me somewhere and showed me “bunkers” by a beach . I believe it was in Galveston.

[hedgetrimmer]

Remembrance Day bump!

[Ditter]

Thanks for posting this. I was a year old at the time of Pearl Harbor but before the war was over I have memories of certain aspects of it.

[ETL]

Tons of info on the tragedy on this National Geographic site, including archival footage, personal accounts, maps, etc:
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/

[TonyStark]

Imagine describing the attack on Pearl Harbor using today's politically correct terms:

Today, extremists attacked a US military facility in the formerly autonomous Hawaiian Islands. US Navy personnel, some on their second and third tours of duty, were caught by surprise due to failures of both processes and technology.

Congressional hearings into the military failures which caused this tragedy will be held soon, with Republican members of the House and Senate in the hot seat.

The State Department is downplaying any nationalistic source of the attacks, saying there is no evidence that the emperor and the military forces of any particular nation are behind the attacks. A strong warning has been issued to Zionists to not use this event as a opportunity to establish a nation.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I was at Pearl for the 50 anniversary of the attack.Very,very moving.We were recovering a P-40B wreck that had been at Hickam field during the attack.That bird has been restored now and is flying in England.

[o_zarkman44]

Do we have the manufacturing and national mental capacity to follow through an ensuing attack and the likely war if that kind of attack happened today?

The rage of 9/11 seemed to wane after a couple of years.
Is it because no particular national force could be associated with the attack on civilians? Or is it because people are conditioned that it is unacceptable to “hate” anyone regardless of their antagonistic ways?

Thanks for posting this rememberance. Our nation has a lot of soul searching if we are to continue resisting tyranny.

[ErnBatavia]

Sixty seven years ago, almost to the minute, a whole bunch of servicemen had two hours left in their lives.

[girlangler]

Mom and I are talking about it now. She turned 14 years old on Dec. 6, 1941, and the next day Pearl Harbor was hit.

She said the young men and boys were standing in line to join the military. They heard all sorts of rumors about Japanese invasions in the U.S.

Of course they got all their news from the radio, and then newspapers. She was living in a coal mining town in Virginia. After the U.S. entered the war, the YWCA came to the mining towns and recruited teenaged girls to work in defense plants.

She ended up being a welder (welding ship parts for Richmond Engineering) in Richmond Va., at the tender age of 16.

I had several uncles in WWII. And, of course, my fishing buddy, who was awarded a Silver Star for his heroic actions on Anguar Island, passed away this year. I also have a good (still living) friend, who is 90, and was at Pearl Harbor. He is the friend you spoke with, Yank.

I have recorded their stories, and will never forget the sacrifices they and their families made for our country.

[tubebender]

I was only 7 that day and don't remember when or where we heard the news. I would guess it was on the Philco radio. I'll call my older surviving brother later, the one with the computer like memory, and ask him. Both older brothers, one sister and both of my to be brother in laws served. Only one BiL served in the Navy South Pacific and he lived through Hell of many battles. He died a alcoholic. My living Bro was a German POW for nearly a year.

Blackie was much older than I in 1941 and had already placed his order for his current 2003 450 HP Ford pickup. I think that's what he told us...

[EyeGuy]

“....Japan...failed to destroy the major US ships , the aircraft carriers.”

#####

Who then turned around and scored an historically decisive victory, just 6 months later off Midway Island, against the SAME Jap carriers that had led the Pearl Harbor attacks.

[SolidWood]

So true.