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Sunday
December 07, 2003
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December 7, 1941 The forward superstructure and Number Two 14"/45 triple gun turret of the sunken USS Arizona (BB-39), afire after the Japanese raid, 7 December 1941. The foremast is leaning as a result of the collapse of the hull structure below its front leg, following the explosion of the ship's forward magazines. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.
Dec. 7, 1941 By June Allen It was Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941. At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, Japanese Imperial forces launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Navy's fleet moored at Pearl Harbor and the nearby Army installation. Nineteen ships were sunk or damaged, crippling the U.S. fleet. And in a period of only a few hours, 2,300 Americans were left dead. One of those was Navy Ensign Irvin Thompson, 24, of Ketchikan. He was lost in the sinking of the battleship Oklahoma, Alaska's first serviceman casualty of World War II. In his honor, flags would fly at half-mast throughout Alaska Dec. 21, by proclamation of Territorial Governor Ernest Gruening. In spite of the fact that the United States had declared neutrality in Hitler's "European war" on Sept. 5, 1939, most citizens expected that eventually the country would be drawn into the conflict. What few expected was that any nation would dare to attack the United States! The attack on Pearl Harbor came as an outrage and war was immediately declared. In Ketchikan, in shock like
the rest of the nation, there were whispered rumors of Japanese
cannery workers and bookkeepers having hidden short wave radios.
In fact, a more specific rumor said that a spy at Waterfall Cannery
had been evacuated by an enemy submarine under cover of night.
There was a rumor of enemy submarines off Prince of Wales Island
- a rumor that soon after earned some credibility when remote
areas in British Columbia and the Oregon coast were lobbed with
incendiary bombs launched from enemy subs. - Read
the rest of this story by June Allen... |
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by the President of the United States of America, A Proclamation More than 60 years ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Americans that December 7, 1941, was "a date which will live in infamy." On that morning, America was attacked without warning and without provocation. More than 2,400 Americans died and 1,100 were wounded. Our country was changed forever. Following that attack, our
The USS ARIZONA Memorial in
Honolulu, Hawaii, stands as a monument to that ship's 1,177 crew
members who died as a result of the attack. Since the Memorial's
dedication, more than 40 million visitors have honored the heroism
of these brave sailors and marines. Laura and I had the opportunity
to visit the Memorial in October of this year. It is a fitting
tribute to the lives lost in defense of our freedom during the
greatest global conflict in history. - Read
more...
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