Pearl Harbor Attack: A “Day That Will Live in Infamy”

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (Sept. 3, 2011) Sailors and Marines render honors as the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) passes the USS Arizona Memorial before departing Pearl Harbor following a port visit. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd.

Fewer than 3,000 Pearl Harbor survivors remain as witnesses of “a day that will live in infamy. ”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech here:

Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our secretary of state a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

Pearl Harbor: Day Of Infamy Synopsis

A three hour documentary about Pearl Harbor containing over 25 survivor interviews revealing eyewitness accounts from both American and Japanese veterans. Witness the events of December 7, 1941, as a Japanese carrier fleet launches a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the island of Oahu which ultimately demolished the United States Pacific Fleet in under one hour. Approximately 2,500 American lives were lost and numerous US military battleships and aircraft were destroyed.

Pearl Harbor: An account from the VA blog:

It was a quiet and beautiful Sunday morning at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor—home of America’s Pacific Fleet.  Many of the 60,000 Sailors and other military personnel stationed there were still in their bunks resting after a Saturday night on the town. Some were eating breakfast; a few were on duty, others just straggling in. What appeared to be another day in paradise would quickly turn into a nightmare.

At five minutes before 8:00 AM on December 7, 1941, 183 Japanese aircraft raced across the mountains north of Pearl Harbor with a mission to destroy the U.S. Fleet. Bombs were dropped on fuel and ammunition dumps, buildings, and ships. Japanese pilots strafed the same with wing-mounted machine guns while others dropped torpedoes.

The attack was a surprise. Some Sailors went down with their ships. Some were trapped only to drown inside as water replaced the air in the sinking ship.

Some had to choose between staying aboard a doomed ship, or take a chance by diving into a harbor aflame with burning oil, littered with the dead bodies of their fellow service members.  It was truly a living hell.

You can read the full article from the VA blog, VAntage, HERE.