It was December 7, 1941 --- an ordinary Sunday morning in Honolulu, Hawai'i. Just before 8:00 a.m., amidst peace and quiet and without warning, Japanese aircraft filled the skies and attacked Pearl Harbor and other military bases on the island of O'ahu. Thousands of people were killed and the United States plunged into World War II. Why did the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor? Were there warning signs? Why were so many killed?
In the 1930's, Japan was overcrowded and needed more living space for its population of over 60 million people. The world was in an economic depression and Japan's industries were in trouble. They needed natural resources such as steel, oil, and rubber. They also needed farmland to grow food.
To solve Japan's problems, Japanese military extremists agreed that Japan needed to expand and take over countries like China to gain needed resources. In 1931, Japan invaded and conquered Manchuria, a region in northern China. Six years later Japan launched a full scale attack on China. Japan was quickly becoming a great military power and planned to control all of Asia. Although alarmed by this action, neither the United States nor any other nation with interests in the Far East was willing to use military force to stop the Japanese expansion.
War began in Europe two years later. Japan joined Nazi Germany in the Axis Alliance and watched as Nazi armies controlled more of Europe. In Southeast Asia, Japan set its sights on European colonies rich with natural resources. But the United States had an interest in Asia, too, and was not going to let Japan dominate the Pacific.
Japanese leaders believed an oil embargo by the United States was a threat to their nation's security. A decision was made by these leaders to destroy the only force America had to stop the Japanese --- the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese navy, was in charge of planning the first attack against the United States. He took aircraft, pilots, and ships from the war in China and put them in training for a massive surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor.
On November 26, 1941, over 30 Japanese warships consisting of destroyers, aircraft carriers, cruisers, battleships, numerous supply vessels, and submarines headed for Hawai'i. Yamamoto's plan, to sail his ships through the seldom used route in the North Pacific worked and the mighty Japanese fleet cruised undetected two hundred miles off of Hawaii.
The American military was well aware that a surprise attack on Hawai'i was possible and they thought they were prepared. Army fighters at Wheeler Air Field guarded the sky while bombers at Hickam Field stood ready to strike an enemy fleet long before it could reach attack position. Military leaders believed that the greatest danger was not air attack but saboteurs. To make their aircraft easier to guard, they were parked wing-tip to wing-tip in the middle of the airfield.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, at 6:15 a.m., the first wave of 184 Japanese planes took off from the Japanese aircraft carriers. At 6:30 a.m., the destroyer Ward sighted a submarine in restricted waters off of Pearl Harbor and opened fire. She sank one of the 2-man midget submarines that were part of the Japanese attack force. Ward radioed naval headquarters, "We have attacked, fired upon, and dropped depth charges on a submarine operating in defensive sea area." Minutes later, radar operators on the north coast of the island detected a large flight of incoming planes and notified the information center at Fort Shafter. The officer on duty there assumed that they were the American B-17 bombers due in that day from California. The radar had actually detected the Japanese strike force.
At 7:55 a.m., the code word, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" was shouted over the radio and waves of Japanese fighters and bombers began to swarm over the island --- their main target, Pearl Harbor. One hundred forty-five vessels of all kinds were docked at Pearl Harbor, from small boats to battleships. The Japanese hoped that United States aircraft carriers were also in port at the time of the attack but they weren't --- the carriers Lexington and Enterprise were out at sea delivering aircraft to Wake and Midway Islands. The main targets then became the battleships that were lined up at Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor --- "Battleship Row".
On Monday, December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called together the nation's senators and congressmen. He asked them to declare war on Japan for an "unprovoken and dastardly attack." Although most Americans felt they should also declare war on Germany and Italy, Roosevelt did not, since there had been no direct attack on the United States by those two nations. The problem was solved, however, when Adolf Hitler of Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy both declared war on the United States a few days later. Plans were being made to fight a war the United States had not wanted.
My Comments - No one wants war, it is a last resort. With the exception of Viet Nam and recent events, the United States has never gone to war without planning a complete and overwhelming defeat of our enemies. Unfortunately, it seems to me that concept of war recently is not to wipeout and destroy the enemies of the United States, we are much too concerned about the rights of our enemies and whether our actions are acceptable to the opinions of other countries than we are our own military. I served my time in the military, and I know we have the most advanced and powerful military in the world. They are trained and ready to go and defeat the enemies of the United States, they are not trained to "nation build" or be politically correct. Politicians, please don't tie the hands of our military, tell them to get the enemy, and let them do their job.
