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Pearl Harbor Day

We Remember

Thursday, December 7, marks National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, which is also referred to as Pearl Harbor Day. Observed annually in the United States, the day remembers and honors the 2,403 United States personnel—including 68 civilians—who were killed in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

According to PearlHarbor75thAnniversary.com, which was established to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the attack in 2016, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisers expected an attack in the Philippines or elsewhere in the far western Pacific. “‘Orange’ was code for Japan and explored the likelihood of a surprise attack by Japan. The plan was based on the well-established premise that any decisive battle would be fought at sea and the U.S. Fleet planned to leave from Pearl Harbor to confront the Japanese.”

History.com recounts the surprise attack. “At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appeared out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.”

Another 1,178 people were injured in the attack, which permanently sank the U.S. Navy battleships USS Arizona and USS Utah, and destroyed 188 aircraft, according to NPS.gov. Nineteen U.S. Navy ships, including eight battleships, were destroyed or damaged.

The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared in a speech, “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.” He asked the United States Congress to approve a resolution recognizing war between the United States and Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the U.S. government responded.

The American contribution to the successful Allied war effort spanned four years and claimed more than 400,000 American lives. Historian Geoffrey C. Ward provides an intimate biography of President Roosevelt’s life, character, strong will, and personality in Before the Trumpet.

American General Douglas MacArthur commanded the Southwest Pacific during World War II. On September 2, 1945, he officially accepted Japan’s surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. He also oversaw the successful Allied occupation of postwar Japan. Read more about his accomplishments in Revitalizing a Nation: A Statement of Beliefs by John M. Pratt.

On August 23rd, 1994, the United States Congress designated December 7th as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. On that day, the American flag is flown at half-staff until sunset to honor the deceased. For more on World War II, read The Fortunes Of War: Four Great Battles Of World War II by Andy Rooney.

By Regina Molaro