“A day that will live in infamy,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his speech responding to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Every year, on December 7, Pearl Harbor Survivors, veterans, and visitors from all over the world come together to honor and remember the 2,043 service members and civilians killed during the Japanese attack.
The attack on Pearl Harbor created a wave of patriotism and outrage. Less than a year after Pearl Harbor, 50 million of the 132 million Americans were employed in the war effort working for the government.
Something that isn’t well-known is that on the morning of December 7th, 1941, the Wickes-class destroyer USS Ward attacked and sank a Ko-hyoteki class midget submarine near the entrance to the harbor, making it not only the first shot fired on that day, but the first official American shots in the War.
The Pearl Harbor attack began at 7:55 am (Hawaii time) on Sunday morning. Japanese aircraft were launched from the Japanese fleet north of Hawaii that consisted of 67 ships —6 heavy aircraft carriers, two heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, two light cruisers, nine oilers, two battleships and 11 destroyers. They deployed 353 aircraft — 40 torpedo planes, 103 level bombers, 131 dive-bombers and 79 fighter aircraft.
The US declared war on Japan on December 8th. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States.
Most ships on “Battleship Row” in Pearl Harbor returned to service after the attack, but the Arizona and Oklahoma were damaged beyond repair by bombs or torpedo hits. Of the 2,026 American sailors and marines killed in the attack, 1,606 had been aboard those two ships.
The survivors that served on the USS Arizona have the option to join their lost comrades and make the ship their final resting place. Crew members who served on board the USS Arizona during the attack may choose to have their ashes deposited by divers beneath one of the sunken Arizona’s gun turrets.
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor a second time on March 4th, 1942 — in what they called Operation K. They used two 4 engine naval flying boats, nicknamed “Emily” by the allies. They could carry one ton of bombs and had a crew of 10. Also known as the flying porcupine, the planes had five 20mm cannons and four machine guns in turrets and blisters.
However, on March 4th, radar saw them coming, and just after midnight, air defense dispatched fighters to patrol Pearl Harbor. Because they were unable to see the target due to cloudy weather, one aircraft dropped bombs on a remote hillside and the other dropped its bombs into the ocean.
So today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day — a day we should truly “never forget.”
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