AncientPages.com - On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted a surprise military strike against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The attack was planned as a preventive action to keep the US Pacific Fleet from interfering with military activities the Empire of Japan.
Pearl Harbor survivor Bill Johnson reads the list of names inscribed in the USS Arizona Memorial. Image credit: U.S. Navy photo by Chief Journalist David Rush - source
353 Japanese fighters and bombers attacked the naval base, torpedo planes in two waves launched from six aircraft carriers.
All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. 188 US aircraft were destroyed, 2,402 Americans were killed, and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines were lost, and 65 servicemen were killed or injured.
This historical event led directly to the American entry into World War II. The following day the United States declared war on Japan. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed on December 7, 1941:“a date which will live in infamy.”
Three days later, Italy and Germany returned the favor with declarations of their own, and the U.S., within hours, replied with an announcement that the military might of the American people would now be turned toward Europe and the Pacific.
World War II now included all the world’s most extraordinary powers for the first time.
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