7 Dec 1941 Pearl Harbor Day At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, 360 Japanese warplanes, mostly dive bombers and torpedo planes, attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States into World War II eventually costing over 400,000 American lives. Much of the Pacific fleet was rendered useless: five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged, and more than 200 aircraft were destroyed. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded. Fortunately, all three Pacific fleet carriers were out at sea.
The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and declared, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” After the speech, Congress quickly approved a resolution to declare war on Japan. Just a few days later Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States beginning four long years of World War II.
Even before President Roosevelt’s famous speech began, the 22nd Bomb Group headed into the war. At 0715 on 8 Dec 1941, less than 18 hours after the first bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor, the 22nd Bomb Group, the Red Raiders, took off in B-26 medium bombers from Langley field, VA headed for Muroc, CA to fly shore patrol. My father was a crew chief on one of those B-26s in the 33rd squadron. From Muroc, they boarded the airplanes and flight crews onto ships and sailed to Oahu. At Hickam Field, they reassembled the planes and island hopped to Australia. The 22nd BG was one of the first units to take offensive action against the enemy. From from bases in northern Australia, they flew bomb missions without fighter escort against Japanese bases and shipping around New Guinea and the surrounding waters. As the war continued, they island hopped toward Japan while also moving from B-26s to B-25s to B-24s bombers.
Seventy-five years later, some Americans worry that most Americans don’t recognize the importance of Dec. 7, 1941. “Let me tell you,” a 95-year-old survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack, said “the majority of people today don’t even have the slightest idea what happened there.” In fact, many Americans can hardly conceptualize the idea of the entire world being at war. Remember Pearl Harbor!
