Remembering Pearl Harbor
There are many days in our history that will forever be remembered – they live on in our collective memories, in our textbooks, and in the stories that are passed down through generations. Days of victories, and days of loss – foreign and domestic. But only one day has been described as “a date which will live in infamy,” December 7, 1941 – the day our shores were attacked at Pearl Harbor, a US Naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. The day that instigated the United States’ involvement in World War II.
December 7, 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan is often described as a surprise attack, but tensions had been building in the Pacific for at least a decade prior to the attack. In fact, in 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the entire Pacific fleet moved from San Diego, California, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Nevertheless, while war may have loomed, an attack at Pearl Harbor was unforeseen. Even after an intercepted Japanese message on December 6, 1941 “inquired about ship movements and berthing positions” at Pearl Harbor, and a “large group of airplanes” showed up on radar in the early morning hours of December 7, 1941 – leadership remained unprepared to even contemplate a forthcoming attack.
The USS Arizona Memorial
The attack began at 7:55 a.m. and lasted a little over an hour. The impact to the Pacific fleet was devastating – the Japanese “destroyed or damaged 19 US warships and 300 aircraft,” including sinking the USS Arizona, which remains today as a memorial in Pearl Harbor, buried at sea.
US casualties were astounding, with 2,403 killed and 1,178 wounded (including 68 civilian lives lost and 35 wounded). Sixteen service members were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions on this day alone, most having died due to their heroic actions to maintain defenses and preserve the life of their fellow service members. For example, 20-year old Seaman First Class James Richard Ward’s citation describes after the order was given to abandon the USS Oklahoma, “Ward remained in a turret holding a flashlight so the remainder of the turret crew could see to escape, thereby sacrificing his own life.”
Declarations of War
Within a day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States would declare war against Japan, and subsequently against Germany and Italy - fully entering World War II 3 days after the Pearl Harbor invasion and preparing to fight a war across the Pacific and in Europe.
World War II would shape the United States not only for the next 4 years until its end in 1945, but its spirit (and its ghosts as well) remain palpable to this day.
Legacy of War
The memories of World War II are profound and while some memories may be starting to turn to grey, others are still very vivid: the atrocities of the Holocaust; the deployment of the first atomic bomb. Its battles, key places, and events are recalled with a single word or phrase: Battle of the Bulge, Normandy, Guadalcanal, Utah Beach, Iwo Jima, V-E Day, V-J Day.
On the home front, an entire culture emerged that has had a lasting impact at home and at work – Victory gardens, Rosie the Riveter, industry and manufacturing, rationing, grit, and the common refrain: “Don’t you know there’s a war on?”
And post-war – one the largest pieces of pro-veteran legislation: The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (also known as the GI Bill or the GI “Bill of Rights”) – amending the veterans benefits landscape and creating new benefits that still live on today.
Memory
A single day – a little more than a single hour that catapulted the United States into a World War – perpetually shaping its future. Events that are not dissimilar to another morning without suspicion nearly 60 years later on September 11, 2001 – another orchestrated attack on US soil, lasting mere hours, resulting in a war that would shape the US for decades.
As we take a minute to reflect on these events and the service and sacrifice of our service members and veterans, and their families – may the weight of memory be heavy, but the light of hope, victory, and safe homecomings shine brightly.
We would also like to remind our World War II Veterans of an important expansion of VA Healthcare benefits which provides free healthcare to all World War II era Veterans. For more information, please read our prior post here.
We thank you for your service and we’re standing by to assist if you have questions about your VA benefits.
“The Day of Infamy” Address
Listen to President Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech to Congress, December 8, 1941.
FDR Library