Thursday Thirteen 4: Remembering Pearl Harbor

December 7th….per FDR a day that will live in infamy. He was so correct.

Today, sixty-five years later we are still remembering the horrendous attack at Pearl Harbor.

My Thursday Thirteen is dedicated to the many men and women who died, were injured, or experienced this shattering event on the day that formalized our participation in World War II.

Thirteen Facts about December 7, 1941…the Attack on Pearl Harbor

1. One source states the attack involved 300 Japanese planes. Bombers first attacked the airfield at Ford Island at 7:55 a.m. This prompted the dispatch, “Air raid---Pearl Harbor---this is no drill.”

2.More than 2400 servicemen and civilians were killed. 55 Japanese airmen were killed and one was taken prisoner.

3.19 ships were sunk or destroyed---

4. 188 planes were destroyed----155 planes were damaged. The Japanese had 29 planes destroyed and 4 of their mini-subs were sunk.

5.American intelligence had the knowledge we would more than likely be attacked, but they thought it would be somewhere in Asia.

6.Frank Knox, the Secretary of the Navy at the time, said, “No matter what, the U.S. Navy is not going to be caught napping.”

7.A series of errors kept the forces at Pearl Harbor from being warned of the impending attack.

8.Every member of Congress voted to declare war against Japan except for one. She was Jeannette Rankin of Montana.

9.The war declaration ended a long period of isolationism in the United States.

10.The attack on Pearl Harbor was not the only place Japanese forces attacked that day. The British lost the HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse

11. The Arizona is still submerged under the waters of Pearl Harbor and continues to be a memorial to the many men entombed there.

12. The damage at Pearl Harbor was devastating that day, however, vital oil tank farms, the Navy Yard and machine shops were not destroyed. The submarine base, a power base, and the Headquarters Building where the intelligence unit was located were left intact.

13. The Navy Yard and machine shops were key in getting six ships---Nevada, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, California, and Pennsylvania----repaired and returned to service. The Oklahoma was initially capsized, was righted, but was never returned to service.