Did U.S. shoot first at Pearl Harbor?

Associated Press ^ | 29 August 2002

[tophat9000]

I still could no find my original sources that lay this all out so I can’t back it up .... sorry :>

(had a disk crash some months back and lost a lot) all I can offer is some small bits of the story

Part of the first wave did go (mostly) around the west side of the Oahu (see map)

The 6 am launch from Enterprise to fly in to port was normal procedure when returning to port and was not in response to the attack

Ensign Gonzales & Aircrew man Kozelek in SBD 6-B-3 ( of Bombing 6 ) were part of the 6 AM launch from Enterprise see action reports http://www.cv6.org/ship/logs/ph/ and were lost that day early on.

Later research seem to indicate (the sources I was looking for) that 6-B-3 may have been lost earlier then recalled in some of the action reports and may have been the first loss of the day

(If I recall right they look at the Enterprise radio log that logged real time, the transmissions from 6-B-3 as opposed to pilots reports time line that were written at the end of a very busy day)

[Swordmaker]

What's this? A prelude to revisionist claims that Japan then attacked Pearl Harbor in retaliation?

No, they are saying that Pearl Harbor attacked the Japanese...

[Swordmaker]

These revisionists will eventually spin 9/11 into:

"The evil capitalist Americans conspired to hit the honest,peace loving arabian tourists with the World Trade Towers. The merry band of tourists had merely requested their airplane crew to divert the flight so they could get some aerial pictures of the Great City of New York. These innocent travelers were unjustly knocked out of the skies while snapping photos of the spectacular scenery by a sneak attack on their aircraft when the two secret weapons, designed by the American military/industrial complex, cunningly disguised as office buildings, moved rapidly into their paths."

And it will be believed by people who haven't a clue.

Just give them time.

[skeeter]

In the melee, Kanahele was wounded, Harada was shot by the pilot before taking his own life with the shotgun.

According to the accounts I've read it was Harada who shot himself & the pilot, after shooting and wounding Kanahele, was killed when the big Hawaiian threw him against a stone wall.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Could be... this is the only account I've seen... Maybe the Hawaiian wrote something (a personal account) - I'll have to look around :0)

[clintonh8r]

We all live in a YELLOW submarine...."

[GretchenEE]

Researchers ... found a Japanese midget submarine sunk more than an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Discovery of the 78-foot vessel could provide the first physical evidence to back U.S. military assertions that it fired first against Japan in World War II and inflicted the first casualties.

Well, THAT changes everything. America was at fault for the Pacific portion of WW2, now I know for sure. I mean, what were our forces thinking to take out an armed mini-sub from a nation friendly to Germany and not exactly friendly to the US, during a world war, before it could be given a chance to fire on them?

Yes, America was at fault once again. Shame on us.

Not.

[GretchenEE]

Sometimes people on FR are just a BIT too quick to see liberal bias. IMHO.

Perhaps DoughtyOne saw a few of the other headlines on this before posting. Drudge promoted a story, I think from UPI, under headlines that said the US fired the first shot at Pearl Harbor, thus starting the hostilities. I beg to differ. We responded to an attack that was underway that simply had not yet had time to reach its total, final destination, which, considering the outcome, one must conclude was Pearl Harbor, which we had every right to defend from attack.

The action against the Japanese sub was no different from the Flight 93 passengers on September 11, other than that those now-dead souls had the knowledge that a series of attacks had already succeeded.

[philman_36]

Didn't WWII begin when the Germans and Soviets defeated and divided Poland in Sept., '39?
Timeline. Invasion/annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland/Czechoslovakia in '38.

[philman_36]

You might consider Wikipedia World War II
In 1936 the German army reoccupied the Rhineland.
...as the "start" of the whole thing. But, you would have to go back to the Treaty of Versailles and WWI and so forth and so on.
The British and French should've been more proactive in responding in '36 and '38. Chambelain was an appeaser IMO.

[philman_36]

Chamberlain

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks for the links, philman. The 1938 annexation of the Sudentenland was approved by both the British and the French so I'm not certain it was considered an "act of war." The "Reader's Digest Illustrated Story of WWII" names the 1939 attack on Poland as the official beginning of the war....but it also praises FDR. (^:

[philman_36]

The 1938 annexation of the Sudentenland was approved by both the British and the French so I'm not certain it was considered an "act of war."
I'd be willing to bet that the people of the Sudetenland/Czechoslovakia would view it differently.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Amen. The trial lawyers are probably already working on a case for reparations.