JAPAN DECLARED WAR ON AMERICA
Flags at half-staff for Pearl Harbor Day
Posted on 12/06/2008 1:53:14 PM PST by Dubya
JAPAN DECLARED WAR ON AMERICA
Flags at half-staff for Pearl Harbor Day
I attended the 50 year reunion of my class and when a bunch of us were touring the high school building we saw that they had put up a bronze sign on the wall in the main foyer with all the names of the students who did not make it back. There were hundreds of names and we all fell silent standing there and read the names.
From today’s USS Intrepid association newsletter ...
“Only hysteria entertains the idea that . . . Japan contemplates war upon us.” John Dulles, U.S. diplomat and later Secretary of State
“The Hawaiian Islands are over-protected; the entire Japanese fleet and Air Force could not seriously threaten Oahu.” Capt. Wm. Pulleston, former Chief of US Naval Intelligence
“No matter what happens, the U.S. Navy is not going to be caught napping.” SecNav Frank Knox, December 4, 1941
The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy’s battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire’s southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.
Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese aggression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable.
By late November 1941, with peace negotiations clearly approaching an end, informed U.S. officials (and they were well-informed, they believed, through an ability to read Japan’s diplomatic codes) fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. Completely unanticipated was the prospect that Japan would attack east, as well.
The U.S. Fleet’s Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy secretly sent one across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the World’s oceans. Its planes hit just before 8 AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead. Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.
These great Japanese successes, achieved without prior diplomatic formalities, shocked and enraged the previously divided American people into a level of purposeful unity hardly seen before or since. For the next five months, until the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, Japan’s far-reaching offensives proceeded untroubled by fruitful opposition. American and Allied morale suffered accordingly. Under normal political circumstances, an accommodation might have been considered.
However, the memory of the “sneak attack” on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination to fight on. Once the Battle of Midway in early June 1942 had eliminated much of Japan’s striking power, that same memory stoked a relentless war to reverse her conquests and remove her, and her German and Italian allies, as future threats to World peace.
This is what brought my Dad into the War, he was first sent to Camp Van Dorn Mississippi for basic training, then shipped out to the Pacific to join thousands of other GIs in the island hopping operations that would eventually see the Japs forced back to the home islands, and then introduced to Mr. Atom in August ‘45.
My Dad has no doubt been looking up his old buddies after going to be with the Lord 2 years ago next month, I’m always wishing he were still with us, but glad he isn’t alive to see the 0bamanation about to take place in our Country.
God Bless All of our Brave Veterans, those who came back, and those who paid the ultimate price, and did not.
Born 20 years to the day afterward. Maybe I was destined to be a Navy man.
Happy Birthday right back atcha! I have few memories of the war, but I still have some of the ration booklets from my folks. I had a cousin in the Coast Guard. He became my ‘Popeye, the Sailor Man!’ I have a picture of the two of us - with me in his duffle bag.
http://images.google.com/images?q=Pearl+Harbor+source:life 
Here’s what Americans heard if they were listening to the radio:
And, in honor of your birthday, here’s what Americans on your 4th:
http://ia311534.us.archive.org/2/items/WWII_News_1945/1945-08-14_MBS_Bulletin_-_Japan_Surrenders.mp3
That would be the Arizona at the bottom before the big hit. The Oklahoma is already capsizing at top which was another big loss of life.
What a beautiful picture.
1941: Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor
BBC | BBC
Posted on 12/07/2008 7:21:06 AM PST by Dubya
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2144439/posts
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Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/12/20081205-3.html
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 5, 2008
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
White House News
On National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we mourn the more than 2,400 Americans whose lives were lost in the surprise attack on our homeland that changed the course of history. Their service and sacrifice and the service and sacrifice of all our World War II veterans will be forever honored on this day by the citizens of a free and grateful Nation.
On December 7, 1941, the enemy nearly destroyed our Pacific Fleet, and the United States was forced into a long and terrible war. A generation of Americans stepped forward to fight for our country. Their message to America’s enemies was clear: If you attack this country and harm our people, there is no corner of the Earth remote enough to protect you from the reach of our Nation’s Armed Forces.
Following the war the United States worked to make our most bitter enemies into our closest friends through the transformative power of freedom. The joys of liberty are often secured by the sacrifices of those who serve a cause greater than self. To honor and recognize the sacrifice of our Armed Forces, I have designated nine sites as the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. This monument will preserve our history and help share this heritage with future generations. On this anniversary, we honor the heroes who risked and lost their lives for our security and freedom. Their selfless dedication exemplifies the great character of America and continues to inspire our Nation.
The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as “National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.”
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 7, 2008, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. I encourage all Americans to observe this solemn occasion with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I urge all Federal agencies and interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff this December 7 in honor of those who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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That’s a great photo of the surrender signing on the Mighty Mo. I forget where I read it - but probably when they decommissioned the ship. The cook or some low-level type guy told the story of how they needed a table for the signing. They ended up using a table from the galley that was all beat up, etc. so they put the cloth over it. I almost want to say there were two tables, but mismatched in height so they had to put boards or something under the one side. Regardless - it was a very hastily put-together table for such a monumental event. (And a tribute to their can-do attitude and adaptability!)
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