New York
On this day in 1941, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise attack on the
Pearl Harbor Navy base, killing 2,403 Americans.
We will never forget the innocent men and women whose lives were lost that day and our veterans,
whose lives were changed after they went to fight for one nation
unified in war that would finally end in 1945.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against
the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941.
The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor,[11] led to the United States' entry into World War II.
The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI,and as
Operation "Z" during its planning.
Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S.
Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories
of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines,
Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time (18:18 GMT).
The base was attacked by 353
Imperial Japanese aircraft (including fighters, level and dive bombers, and torpedo bombers) in two waves,
launched from six aircraft carriers.
All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk.
All but the USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war.
The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship,
and one minelayer.
One hundred eighty-eight U.S. aircraft were destroyed;
Important base installations such as the power station, dry dock, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage
facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section),
were not attacked.
Japanese losses were light:
One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured.
The surprise attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly
to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters.
The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan, and several days later,
on December 11, Germany and Italy each declared war on the U.S. The U.S. responded with a declaration of war against
Germany and Italy.
Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940,[22] disappeared.
There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan, but the lack of any formal warning,
particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing,
led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941,
Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on
Pearl Harbor was later judged in the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.
President Trump signed a short-term spending bill today to stave off a shutdown and
to keep the government funded through Dec. 21.
The real showdown over funding a border wall will begin and Democrats will try to thwart any effort to secure the border.
Civil unrest continues as more migrants from the caravan try to breach the border.
It's a clear sign that we need to secure our border now more than ever!
The GOP-led Congress has two weeks left to pass legislation providing funding for a wall and they need to do
it NOW before they lose power to the Democrats in January!
Call your representative and senators and urge them to be proactive on passing a bill that will secure the border.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D) (202) 224-5274
Sen. Marco Rubio (R) (202) 224-3041
2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded.
29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed.
"a date which will live in infamy".
( Redazione )