Remembering Pearl Harbor

By Hillary Mayell December 7, 2000

This picture of the burning USS Arizona after it was hit by Japanese bombers in the surprise early morning bombing raid on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, was widely published in newspapers the next day, solidifying American support to enter World War II.

The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese — December 7, 1941, the day that will live in infamy — my dad joined the Navy. He wasn't a man who talked a lot to begin with. I don't recall ever asking him why he chose the Navy, or having chosen the navy, how it was that he became a pilot instead of a sailor.

Instead my brothers and sisters and I, little ghouls that we were, clamored to hear whether he had ever killed anyone. He never answered us; just said he heard the news on the car radio, turned the car around, and enlisted the next day.

<tr<td<img src="attack.jpg" width=280 height=233 border=0

<FONT SIZE=3 FACE="Times New Roman, Times, Palatino, Serif"

COLOR="#000000"The USS West Virginia and Tennessee under attack at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.</I</FONT</td</tr>

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ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR

What he heard on the car radio was that earlier that morning, the Japanese had launched a surprise attack on the 130 vessels lying at port in Pearl Harbor that comprised the bulk of the Pacific fleet of the United States.

The Japanese planes came in waves. In an attack that lasted a little more than two hours, 2,395 people, soldiers and civilians were killed; 12 ships were sunk, and 9 were damaged. In addition to the ships moored along Battleship Row, airfields at Hickam, Wheeler, Ford Island, Kaneohe, and Ewa Field were attacked, destroying 164 aircraft and damaging 159. The United States declared war on Japan the next day.

Close to half the casualties occurred onboard the USS Arizona. Struck near the forward magazine of the battleship, a 1,760 pound armor piercing bomb touched off a huge explosion; 1,177 sailors went down with the ship, which sank in nine minutes.

<tr<td<img src="arizonamem.jpg" width=280 height=191 border=0

<FONT SIZE=3 FACE="Times New Roman, Times, Palatino, Serif"

COLOR="#000000"The USS Arizona Memorial was constructed in 1961 to straddle the sunken ship and commemorate those who lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor.</I</FONT</td</tr>

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FLOATING MONUMENT

Built in 1961, the 184-foot (56-meter) USS Arizona Memorial straddles the hull of the sunken ship, standing guard over the watery grave of the men who died on her. Today the monument is one of Hawaii's top tourist attractions, drawing more than 1.5 million visitors annually to honor those that died on the day that will live in infamy.

<LI> Pearl Harbor, on the Island of O'ahu, Hawaii, (then a territory of the United States) was attacked by the <LI> Japanese Imperial Navy, at approximately 8:00 A.M., Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.

<LI> The surprise attack was the brainchild of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto; Commander Mitsuo Fuchida led the striking force of 353 Japanese aircraft.

<LI> The United States declared war against Japan the next day.

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that December 7, 1941 — the day the Japanese conducted a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor — was a day that would live in infamy. Some 59 years later, it is still a day to be remembered.