Saturday, December 6, 2008

Pearl Harbor Day




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.

wikipedia: information and image source 

14 Smart Readers SAID::

Phivos Nicolaides said...

History must teach people, but this isn't it the case!!!

Chubskulit Rose said...

Good thing Dad Pooch wasn't in this one....

Borneo Falcon said...

The Japanese did the unthinkable. They also manage to conquer Malaya and Singapore within 14 days with bicycles!

Anonymous said...

So many wars to commemorate, so many dead and maimed...so much waste, and for what? I weep, I wail but then I'm a woman...I made life, cherish it, value it. I don't give a ..... for somone else's gold or oil or land. Attack me or mine and I will fight you, decide you want what is mine and I will fight you,but for the rest...fight your own battles.

Sherrrrrry said...

hey there.
nice to meet you here.
u have a very nice entry ouh~!
:DDDDD

Patty said...

I hope you don't mind, I copied your post for today and put on my blog, and said at the beginning that I copied from you and gave a spot they can click and come to your site. Hope you don't mind. Thank you so much. It's very cold here this morning, around 14F above zero. Sun is shining but not warming things up too much.

Anonymous said...

There is a game server running a flight simulator game today in honor of Pearl Harbor. The Game is called IL-2 1946 and the game community is called the Allied War Machine and are located at AlliedWarMachine.com Why don't we all take a break from the current reality of our political and economical situations and reflect onto a time in the past when our countrymen stood and rallied against extreme hardship and fighting in retaliation to unprovoked attacks which cost the lives of so many of our countrymen and awoke the sleeping giant that was the Allied War Machine.

Let us honor those who fought and those who died, those who gave up much and those who sacrificed everything in defense of our freedoms and our nation while honoring them in an enjoyable manor.

Let us remember those men and women who during a time of great adversity rose up and fought back even as over whelming odds were stacked against them.

Anonymous said...

Pearl Harbor Day is worth commemorating to honor and extend gratitude to those who have fought for freedom till the end. Without them, freedom would have never been attained. They must always be remembered.

Dhemz said...

great post around here..what a history!

escape said...

whats good is japan and america has already bind and agreed to have peace and focus in the country's needs.

Lee said...

Hi Joops, good posting, 'the day of Infamy'.
Really sad why people cannot live in peace everywhere.
I read one of the sunken battlewagons, the Arizona? still seeping out drops of oil everyday.
Hope one day I can go visit Hawaii and have a look at the site.
You have a nice day, Joops, Lee.

Cecile said...

hi, joops, i like your new layout :-) it is nice!

i have a tag for you also, just visit my blog, thanks!

Patty said...

Did you just change your layout? Or is my old mind playing tricks on me? I thought it looked different then this yesterday, but perhaps I'm wrong.

My Father was in the Navy during WWII, and his brother was a gunner that sit in one of those bubble like things in an airplane. They both came back safe and sound. But a Great uncle was never found. They assume he was blown up with the tank he was in. My brother was in during the Vietnam War, my husband lost a nephew during that same war. Also my husband was in during the Korean War, our Granddaughter during the one that is going on now. She was with the group from Ft. Bliss Texas, she drove the trucks that hauled the missiles and helped to set them up. She was over there for six months, but she's been having a lot of problems since she been out.

Grace said...

i love that story of "Pearl Harbor Day" ... Very classic. :)

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