The Pearl Harbor Attack

Today is the 68th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The result of this attack taking place was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asking Congress for a declaration of war against Japan the next day. Congress declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. Right after that Congress declared war on Germany, also. President Roosevelt made the statement that the military strike at Pearl Harbor is a day "that will live on in infamy." America set troops to fight Germany, Japan, and Italy. It took over 3.5 years before the United States defeated Japan with the dropping of the atomic bomb.

The attack on Pearl Harbor, (or Hawaii Operation, Operation Z as it was called by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters) was an unannounced military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. It brought about the U.S. entry into World War II. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from influencing the war that the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against Britain and the Netherlands as well as the U.S. in the Phillippines. The attack consisted of two aerial attack waves totaling 353 aircraft launched from six Japanese aircraft carriers. The attack sank four U.S. navy battleships (two which were raised and returned to service later in the war and damaged four more). The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer, destroyed 188 aircraft and caused personnel losses of 2402 killed and 1282 wounded. Japanese losses were minimal. There were 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost and 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

The naval strike was intended to neutralize the U.S. Pacific Fleet and hence protect Japan's advance into Malaya at the Dutch East Indies, where Japan sought to access its natural resources such as oil and rubber. The attack had several major aims. The first aim was to support and destroy American fleet units, thereby preventing the Pacific Fleet from interfering with the Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies. Second, it was a means to buy time for Japan to consolidate her position and increase her naval strength, before the shipbuilding of the Vinson-Walsh Act erased any chance of victory. Finally, it was intended as a blow against American morale, which might discourage further fighting and enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference.

In the wake of the attack, 16 medals of Honor, 51 Corps Medals, 53 silver crosses, four Navy and Marine Corps Medals, one Distinguished Flying Cross, four Distinguished Service Crosses, One Distinguished Service Medal, and three Bronze Stars were awarded to the American servicemen who distinguished themselves in combat at Pearl Harbor. One consequence of the attacks on Pearl Harbor was that Japanese American residents and citizens were relocated to Japanese American internment camps. Within hours of the attack, hundreds of Japanese American leaders were rounded up and brought to high-security camps. Later, over 110,000 Japanese Americans, including U.S. citizens, were removed from their homes and transferred to internment camps. One final thought before closing. There has been speculation by some that President Roosevelt had foreknowledge that the Japanese were going to attack at Pearl Harbor. The supposed excuse for allowing the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor was it would convince Americans that America needs to participate in fighting World World II. There has been no proof of that one way or another.