Americans first learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor through radio reports like the one in this video.
The attack on Pearl Harbor Nestled in the dead of winter in our Cinncinnati, Ohio, home, the lives of my family millions across the nation would be changed forever with the crackling sound of a news flash on the radio reporting Pearl Harbor had been attacked. I was a mere 7 years old.
The first I knew of it that mid-day Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, was my father and older brother running to the giant wooden radio the size of two stacked bread boxes shouting: "The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor!"
Over the next several days, the extent of the losses were tallied up. Every battleship except the West Virginia was sitting in the mud of Pearl Harbor. Almost all of the planes were shot to pieces as they had been lined up wingtip to wingtip to prevent sabotage.
On the plus side, all of our aircraft carriers were out to sea somewhere and not harmed. Our fuel dumps, repair facilities, and submarines were more or less untouched. As time went on, the Japanese were to regret these omissions.
America immediately declared war and eventually fought on two fronts: against the Japanese in the Far East and in Western Europe, with the allied invasion of the beach at Normandy, France, against Hitler's Nazi Gemany.
But the more immediate impact here on the homefront was felt within weeks of the Pearl Harbor attack with the rationing of gasoline and food.
Ironically, there was several hours warning of the assault. A Japanese midget submarine was sunk in the harbor. The Japanese fleet has sent radio signals as they came. The experimental radar station picked up the enemy planes when they were about an hour away. The magnitude of the event was so vast and unusual that no one could believe it was happening.
It had parallels to 9/11. No one could believe what the bad guys were up to. Military experts re-evaluating the attack seem to be of the opinion that had we had a few hours warning it wouldn’t have made much difference.
It had parallels to 9/11. No one could believe what the bad guys were up to. Military experts re-evaluating the attack seem to be of the opinion that had we had a few hours warning it wouldn’t have made much difference.
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who was in charge of the attack, told his superiors that he could guarantee victories for about six months and then their winning would be all over. How right he was almost six months to the day.
The US Navy inflicted a huge defeat on the Japanese at Midway and the fortunes of the war changed completely. The smoke was still gushing from the US warships when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told his aides: “ We cannot now lose the war.”
Admiral Yamamoto is reported to have said, “I am afraid all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant.”
