Early on a quiet Sunday morning on December 7, 1941, aircraft of the Empire of Japan, without provocation or warning, attacked the United States forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The Japanese attack left 2400 Americans dead, and 1347 wounded. Twenty one U.S. vessels, including eight battleships, were sunk or badly damaged, and 188 U.S. planes also destroyed or damaged.
In the dramatic message that President Franklin Roosevelt delivered to Congress on Dec. 8, 1941, he told Americans:
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.President Roosevelt then asked Congress to declare war on Japan, a request that was approved by lawmakers, with only one "nay" vote.
Don’t forget!
You can read President Bush’s National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2004 proclamation here. I think its peculiar that, like last year's proclamation, it doesn’t even mention Japan.
One of the things I remember most about my visit to the USS Arizona Memorial is that most of the visitors were Japanese. That still puzzles me.
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