Let's NOT FORGET our 9/11 of Pearl Harbor - December 7th - those of us older ALL were taught of it - WE REMEMBER! I'm using this post as mine; as I respect these folks for their notably correct facts...and don't have time to write so much here these days...I will get back to it after the new year at some point - I miss it.
Let's remember our GREAT STATE of Hawaii on this day!
Pearl Harbor was originally a shallow embankment called Wai Momi
(Pearl Water) or Pu'rloa (long Hill). It was considered the home of
the shark goddess, Ka'ahupahua, and her brother, Kahiuka. Tradition
says that Keaunui, the legendary chief of the Ewa chiefs is the one w
ho created a navigable channel near the present day Pu'uloa saltworks.
The estuary known as "Pearl River" was then accessible to shipping.
It was never used for large shipping because of the shallow entrance.
As whaling and trading began to use the islands as a half-way point in
the Pacific, by 1820 the US was looking for a major harbor. It was
not until the turn of the century that Pearl Harbor began to be
refitted for larger naval vessels. The naval base we know today was formally opened
when the dry dock was open to flooding on August 21, 1919.
As early as February 1, 1933, the Navy staged a mock attack on Pearl
Harbor by the Japanese. The exercise was a disaster. Even in 1933 it
was known that Pearl Harbor's defenses were considered, after the mock
attack by Japan, a failure. It makes the events of December 7, 1941
even more heart-wrenching. The War Department knew the attack was
coming. They did not know when. They did not realize that Pearl
Harbor, which was basically a sitting duck, was to be the location of
the attack. It was assumed the attack would come in the Philippines.
Click For Full Size
Photo taken by a Japanese plane shows Battleship Row at the beginning
of the attack, along with the strike on the USS Oklahoma
"...Under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, the
attack was devastating in loss of life and damage to the U.S. fleet.
At 06:05 on December 7, the six Japanese carriers launched a first
wave of 183 aircraft composed mainly of dive bombers, horizontal
bombers and fighters. The Japanese hit American ships and military
installations at 07:51. The first wave attacked military airfields of
Ford Island. At 08:30, a second wave of 170 Japanese aircraft, mostly
torpedo bombers, attacked the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The
battleship Arizona was hit with an armor-piercing bomb which
penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart
and sinking it within seconds. Overall, nine ships of the U.S. fleet
were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged. Three of the 21 would be
irreparable. The overall death toll reached 2,403, including 68
civilians, and 1,178 injured. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl
Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona. The first shots fired were from
the destroyer Ward on a midget submarine that surfaced outside of
Pearl Harbor; Ward sank the midget sub at approximately 06:55, about
an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan would lose 29 out of
the 350 aircraft they attacked with...."
Click For Full Size
USS Arizona
The attack on Pearl Harbor, called Hawaii Operation or Operation Al by
the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters was designed to prevent the
US Pacific Fleet from interfering with their military actions in
Southeast Asia, against overseas territories of the United Kingdom,
Netherlands, and the US. The Japanese attack was so thorough that
only 29 aircraft and five midget submarines were lost. The US death
toll was 2,403. Only 65 Japanese servicemen were killed or wounded.
One Japanese sailor was captured.
