1941: Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor

BBC ^ | BBC

[Dubya]

Japan has launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and has declared war on Britain and the United States.

The US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, has mobilised all his forces and is poised to declare war on Japan.

Details of the attack in Hawaii are scarce but initial reports say Japanese bombers and torpedo-carrying planes targeted warships, aircraft and military installations in Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, the third largest and chief island of Hawaii.

News of the daring raid has shocked members of Congress at a time when Japanese officials in Washington were still negotiating with US Secretary of State Cordell Hull on lifting US sanctions imposed after continuing Japanese aggression against China.

[Right Brother]

Interesting info. I still believe that FDR and some of the brass had many warnings of the impending attack. The American people did not want us involved in the European war and Roosevelt did while feigning the opposite. He cut off oil and metal supplies to Japan to start the inevitable ball rolling. By allowing the Japanese attack, our entering both the European and Pacific theaters was ensured and a nation was galvanized. FDR was a socialist snake in oh so many ways.

[Eye of Unk]

I had tonal hearing loss, I could not hear higher frequencies, though it did make me very sensitive to any lower sound such as a diesel engine, I am a master mechanic in that field nowadays.
The recruiting officer felt a good position for me was carrier flight deck operations where of course everything is done by sight, hand signals and by what support group or color you are. I was a very fresh 18 having my birthday just a few days earlier on Dec 4th and I was on my own having left home in Arkansas and hopping a bus down to New Orleans, no job, living in a $25 a week room across the river in Algiers I had no guidance and no goals, I could have and possibly should have persevered and requested that I was capable of doing my job with limitations but back then things were tough. Not like it is today.
So I probably made the biggest mistake of my life by giving up. It took me many years to get somewhere in my life, actually it wasn’t until about 1981 that I managed to be somewhat better than a bum on the streets.

[gandalftb]

Good post. My father was on the USS Phoenix, Marine Detachment. He was the forward watch that morning and was the first onboard to see the Japs make their first recon overflight. He drew his sidearm and shot the lock off the .50 caliber ammo box. The first damage done in the attack.

He said that he opened fire with the .50 simultaneously with several other guns in the harbor. The Japs made their turns very low over the Phoenix so it received very little damage but shot down at least two planes.

Dad said a cook came on deck to see what was going on. The cook was carrying potatoes in his apron and the Japs were flying so low that the cook started throwing potatoes at them.

As the Japs turned, very low, right over head, Dad said he looked right into the pilots eyes as he fired on them. He said that many were grinning and looked very confident.

[SouthTexas]

Sorry, I do not know.

[misharu]

The American way of life. If you have drive and a goal you can do anything in this country. Glad to hear that you were able to pull yourself up.

[gandalftb]

BTW, My Dad said that three days before the attack they were ordered to fill the .50 ammunition boxes on deck. That morning, the Phoenix was scheduled to begin live fire exercises and so the boilers were all lit. That's why they were one of the few ships that sailed out of PH during the attack.

None of the Marines onboard were surprised about the attack as the Japs had been over-flying the the Phillipines for several days.

[cartoonistx]

[Erik Latranyi]

He drew his sidearm and shot the lock off the .50 caliber ammo box.

Today, he would not have a sidearm, let alone a loaded one!

Sad how PC has influenced even our military.

[Right Brother]

Sounds about right. It was very convenient that the carriers were at sea.

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

Shouldn’t the flag in the painting have the stars aligned linearly?

[calex59]

I hadn't been born yet, but came out to see what was going on six weeks later in Jan, 1942. My uncles, my father, my stepfather all served, some fought, some were aircraft mechanics(on the P47) and my step father was a guard for German POWs in the states.

Many people don't know it but the Japenese invaded American territory by landing in the Aleutian Islands shortly after Pearl Harbor. It took us a year, but by utilizing the Alaskan civilians( white, Eskimo and Indian)who were wise in the way of the Alaskan wilderness and the extreme weather conditions we were able to finally throw them off. Regular army troops that we sent in were woefully under equipped for that sort of weather and had a tough time of it, but the Alaskans won out. A special unit was formed and this unit became the Alaskan National Guard after the War. The same type of rugged individuals populate the Alaskan National Guard today and, no, I am not an Alaskan, but wish I had moved there when I was young.

[GonzoII]

“Many people don’t know it but the Japenese invaded American territory by landing in the Aleutian Islands shortly after Pearl Harbor....”

—

Great story, thanks.

[AmericanVictory]

Kind of like the American automakers ignored Deming but the Japanese not only listened, they adopted his statistical quality control ideas for all they were worth and listened to as much of his advice as they could get and now award a prize in his name every year.

Kind of explains where we are now.

The rule of Detroit and all too much of dominating American business is: “Don’t bother us with better ideas and technology if it would disrupt they way we’re doing things; we’re comfortable.”

[AmericanVictory]

A young Lt. Commander named Tom Moorer got his PBY flying boat bomber off the ground and tracked the Japanese fleet for 72 hours until back at Pearl they were convinced it was not headed for our carriers and told him to return.

He never forgot all the details of those several days as he rose to hold more high commands than anyone in our military history. And he never lost the gift that he had with Churchill of listening to people with better ideas, no matter who they were, and when they were good, as with the sidewinder, seeing that they were implemented despite the likes of Robert Strange McNamara.

[cartoonistx]

You are right. My bad. It was 1941 and we only had 48 states then. I’ve drawn the 50 star flag! Doh!

[MyTwoCopperCoins]

The painting captures a historic moment nicely... but the error in the flag is creepy... a glimpse of the Obamanation future?

Heh heh!

[GATOR NAVY]

Today, he would not have a sidearm, let alone a loaded one!

Sad how PC has influenced even our military.

Nominated for most ignorant post of the day. Why don't you tell us what you else "know" about shipboard watch standing.

[cartoonistx]

Fixed at the source!

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

ping.

To read in a little while.

Thank you.

[blackie]

"Blackie was much older than I in 1941 and had already placed his order for his current 2003 450 HP Ford pickup. I think that's what he told us..."

I was born Oct. 26, 1930, so I was eleven years old and remember it well. My dad was a miner and he was working at the Lady Esther talc mine in Oasis, CA. We had a battery/AC radio as electricity was supplied from a generator.

My Ford F-150 SVT Lightning is a 2001 and it has 26K miles on it. ;) (There's a pic of it on my Profile page)