Japanese Bombed Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941

The Japanese deliberately attacked the United States Naval fleet station located in Hawaii.
The distances between Hawaii and Japan is obvious that the attack was planned many
days or even weeks before it took place. The Japanese Government deceived the United States
of America by untrue statements and Japans hope for continued peace.

The Attack took place on December 7, 1941. The Americans were completely surprised by the attack.
They suffered high casualty's. When the fighting was over, 2,390 Americans had lost their lives.
The American battleships, the USS Utah, USS Arizona, and the USS Oklahoma, were completely
destroyed. Other ships received heavy damage. Japan also destroyed aircrafts that were located
at nearby airfields.

Few men aboard American ships, that were anchored in the harbor, were on duty and awake
when the awful attack started. Within a matter of a few minutes, a message went out to the
United States mainland, "Air Raid on Pearl Harbor, this is no drill."

Some 392 Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor with 324 planes returning to their carriers.
Japanese squadron leaders crashed their burning aircraft into airfield hangers. These
were suicide attacks by the Japanese.

President FDR, the following day, asked Congress for a declaration of war against the Japanese or
Japan.

Many Americans feared an attack on the Mainland!

Most Americans wanted war declared on Italy and Germany but Roosevelt would not since they had
not directly attacked the United States. However, Hitler and Mussolini, a few days later declared war
on the United States of America.

Pearl Harbor still serves today as the headquarters for Navy Region Hawaii and is still one
of the most important bases in the Pacific by the United States.

The USS Arizona, is under the waters surface there and serves as a memorial to those who lost
their lives that day during the horrible attack of Japan on American Forces!