Sunday, December 07, 2008

Pearl Harbor Day

I copied this from Joops at sailormusings

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Some don't realize it, but today is Pearl Harbor Day. We remember the attack made on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by the Imperial Japanese Navy. This is some factual information about that day in history (copied from Wikipedia). Aircraft and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy began a surprise attack on the U.S. under the command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Despite long-standing assertions that this attack could have been predicted and prevented by the United States Military, the U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor appeared to be utterly unprepared, and the attack effectively drew the United States into World War II. At 6:09 a.m. on December 7, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 183 planes composed mainly of dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. The Japanese hit American ships and military installations at 7:55 a.m. The first wave attacked military airfields of Ford Island. At 8:30 a.m. a second wave of 180 Japanese planes, mostly torpedo bombers, attacked the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The battleship Arizona was hit with an armor piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart and sinking it within seconds. Overall, nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and twenty-one ships were severely damaged. Three of the twenty-one would be irreparable. The overall death toll reached 2,350, including 68 civilians, and 1,178 injured. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona. The first shots fired were from the USS Ward on a midget submarine that had surfaced outside of Pearl Harbor, the USS Ward did successfully sink the midget sub at approximately 6:55, about an hour before the assault on Pearl Harbor.
The Navy base itself was recognized on January 29, 1964 as a National Historic Landmark district. Within its bounds, it contains several other Landmarks, also associated with the attack on Pearl Harbor including the USS Arizona, USS BowfinTemplate:WP Ships USS instances, and USS UtahTemplate:WP Ships USS instances. As an active Navy base, many of the historic buildings that contributed to the NHL designation are under threat of demolition and rebuilding.





8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well we should remember our lost members, good job.

Twisted Fencepost said...

Such a sad, sad day!!
Will it ever end?

Reader Wil said...

I remember that in spite of the fact that I had just turned 8. My father was a sailor and had to leave us early 1942. He left with destination unknown and didn't see us until January 1946, when we returned from Indonesia after being a prisoner till the "bombs"were dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki. From August 1945 till October we lived in constant fear, that we would be interned again by the Indonesians. In October the British rescued us and took us to Singapore, where we stayed till December. Then we left for The Netherlands on board the SS.Nieuw Amsterdam. In the beginning of January we arrived in Southampton and an English ship took us to Amsterdam. There we were united with my father, who had been sailing all the war in convoy with other allied ships, like American and British ships. He had lost many colleagues and good friends. And my mum had had her share of fear and misery for us, her children, at the time 12, 8 and 6 years old. It took a long time before they got used to each other again. So this is indeed a memorable day!

Winifred said...

That was a terrible event in a terrible war. Aren't they all terrible!

So much suffering and particularly hard on innocent children.

It's a pity that the historic buildings are in danger of being pulled down. They are a part of history, it's a pity they can't be saved for the future. They're a part of your heritage.

EJ said...

Thank you so much Ms. Lincoln for spreaduing this one out. Greatly appreciated it.

My father's two brother's died in WW2 and my father served for many years too.. Maybe that's why serving in the country is in my blood..

Have a good day, thank you for always visiting...

Anonymous said...

Me and hubby watched the movie Pearl Harbor ad it gave me chill to see the horrifying event...

DeniseinVA said...

Hubby and I always remember this day. Both our fathers served in the navy during WWII and hubby is retired navy. Thank you for posting it.

Nancy said...

My mom's brother was at Pearl Harbor on this day...I remember him telling stories of this fateful day. So sad. Guess there will always be war somewhere in the world, though....makes one wonder why everyone can't just get along since we are here on this earth for such a limited time.

(((((( HUGS ))))))