Remembering Pearl Harbor - 70th Anniversary

Today marks the seventieth anniversary of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Beginning a few minutes before eight on the morning of December 7, 1941, two waves of Japanese fighters attacked U.S. forces stationed in and around Pearl. The attack ended two hours after the first assault, and the Japanese fleet slipped silently away into the Pacific. The effect of the assault changed the course of world history forever.

18 ships, including all 8 battleships of the Pacific fleet, were badly damaged or sunk. The most famous of these was the U.S.S. Arizona. At about 8:10, Japanese dive bombers scored a direct hit on the Arizona’s forward turret, igniting a magazine and engulfing the ship in a fiery explosion. The ship quickly sunk, claiming the lives of over 1700 crew members – many of whom remain entombed inside the Arizona’s hull.



The U.S.S. Arizona burning



Other ships sustained heavy damage and casualties. The USS Oklahoma took several torpedoes below the water and quickly rolled over, trapping a significant portion of her crew inside. Efforts to recover the trapped those trapped began almost immediately. Naval yard workers used acetylene torches to cut through the hull in an attempt to free hundreds of sailors.  Rescuers worked valiantly, cutting through portions of thick steel where they heard trapped crew members clanging objects against the ship’s keel. Despite their best efforts, only 32 survivors were pulled from the capsized vessel.  



U.S.S. Oklahoma - a proud ship



Over 2,000 Americans lost their lives and another 1,000 were wounded in the attacks. The number would increase exponentially in the coming years, as the United States and her allies fought a global war in two hemispheres. The day after the attack, President Roosevelt began the process of uniting a country by delivering his famous “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy” speech. The sneak attack did not bring America to its knees, as the Japanese had hoped.  It only served to unite the country and “awaken a sleeping giant” – a premonition that the mastermind of the attack, Admiral Yamamoto, cautioned his superiors against.



The Arizona Memorial - standing guard over the ship that became a tomb



As you go about your business on this 70^th anniversary, pause for just a moment and reflect on the worst attack on American soil before 9/11.  And if you by chance know someone who survived the attack or served during the war, shake their hand and take some time to ask them about their experiences.  There are fewer and fewer of them around these days.