231207 Pearl Harbor

The December 7, 1941 attack that pulled America into war.

On this day, December 7, 1941, 82 years ago the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor with a sneak attack that brought the U.S. into WW-2.

There were 2,403 Americans killed during the attack. 2008 of those lost were U.S. navy sailors the rest were soldiers, marines and civilians. There were 92 navy planes destroyed and 77 army planes destroyed; many more planes were damaged, but were able to be returned to duty. There were 6 battleships damaged, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers and 4 auxiliary ships damaged. The only battleship sunk was the USS Arizona and with it there were more than 1,000 sailors trapped below deck; most of them are still inside the Arizona.

Japanese spies on the island of Oahu had been taking pictures of the U.S. fleet and gathering intelligence to send back to Japan in order to plan the attack. During the year the entire fleet went out to sea 5 days a week practicing maneuvers for battle. They came into port and spent the weekend there. The Japanese planned the attack for an early Sunday morning. What they did not know was that the 3 U.S. aircraft carriers happened to be at sea that morning, delivering planes to Midway and Wake islands and the 3rd was returning from the U.S. mainland. Bad weather slowed the carrier's progress and delayed them another day, returning on December 8, 1941. With fair weather, the Japanese would have sunk all 3 carriers along with the other ships in Pearl. That would have crippled the U.S. fleet for more than 6 months, allowing the Japanese to run rampant all over the Pacific. That was their plan, but without sinking the carriers, the plan was foiled.

Prior to Pearl Harbor, the majority of Americans were neutral and wanted to stay that way. They did not want to get into the European war raging in western Europe. The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor changed American opinion. America, the sleeping giant, awoke and was very angry. Recruiting offices around the country were filled with volunteers ready to sign up and ship out across the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. 4 years later, one month after I was born, the Japanese surrendered and the Pacific war ended. The European war ended some months before that.