78 years ago on this day the Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii at 8 am on a Sunday with a sneak attack using 6 aircraft carriers supported by submarines and other surface ships. This attack happened before the declaration of war by the Japanese.
On this day, 2403 people died, 2008 sailors, 109 marines, 218 army and 68 civilians. 1117 of the sailors killed were aboard the USS Arizona, the only ship still lying on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. That day galvanized American sentiment for war. The Japanese, despite their victory that day, made huge mistakes! They missed getting America's aircraft carriers; they failed to knock out the submarines in Pearl, the subs that crippled them during the war by eliminating Japan's merchant fleet during the war. The last mistake was not destroying the fuel farms right beside Pearl Harbor. That enabled America to go right into battle against them. The Japanese wanted to destroy the American fleet so they could have 6 months to a year of unimpeded progress in south east Asian conquest and hoped to get America to sue for peace. Destroying the fuel storage in Pearl would have given them the 6-12 months they wanted to keep America out of direct contact early in the war.
The next day president Roosevelt asked congress for a declaration of war against the Japanese empire and thus began a 4 year war that put 16,000,000 Americans serving in uniform for the duration of the war.
One last reason for remembrance, on this day in 1979 the stock market Dow Jones index dropped 777 points the biggest in history at that time and I lost big time money in the market that day. So December 7 is not a good day for me.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
On this day, 2403 people died, 2008 sailors, 109 marines, 218 army and 68 civilians. 1117 of the sailors killed were aboard the USS Arizona, the only ship still lying on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. That day galvanized American sentiment for war. The Japanese, despite their victory that day, made huge mistakes! They missed getting America's aircraft carriers; they failed to knock out the submarines in Pearl, the subs that crippled them during the war by eliminating Japan's merchant fleet during the war. The last mistake was not destroying the fuel farms right beside Pearl Harbor. That enabled America to go right into battle against them. The Japanese wanted to destroy the American fleet so they could have 6 months to a year of unimpeded progress in south east Asian conquest and hoped to get America to sue for peace. Destroying the fuel storage in Pearl would have given them the 6-12 months they wanted to keep America out of direct contact early in the war.
The next day president Roosevelt asked congress for a declaration of war against the Japanese empire and thus began a 4 year war that put 16,000,000 Americans serving in uniform for the duration of the war.
One last reason for remembrance, on this day in 1979 the stock market Dow Jones index dropped 777 points the biggest in history at that time and I lost big time money in the market that day. So December 7 is not a good day for me.
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.
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