Today is the 75th Anniversary of the Japanese attack on the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The day after the attack, our President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, asked Congress for a declaration of war against the Japanese. The Japanese attacked American and British interests all throughout the Pacific. Check out this interactive site by the USA Today. The site has FDR’s declaration, essays by H.W. Bush and Tom Brokaw, a timeline of the attack, a listing of memorials where the battle is remembered, and the dead honored. I highly encourage to spend the time and read the memorial section of the site. I visited the Utah memorial a few years ago. It is very sobering, as is the Arizona.
While today we dispute the cause of Pearl Harbor. Was it Japan’s imperial ambitions? Was it caused by the United States oil embargo on Japan? Today the cause doesn’t really matter, because today is dedicated to the memory of this event and those who partook.
If you happen to know a survivor, let them know they are appreciated and ask them to share their story – so their individual story isn’t forgotten.The Japanese task force that attacked Pearl Harbor, went on to attack Darwin Australia in February 1942.
Leave a Reply