December 7, 1941, is the day that a relatively unguarded United States naval base was attacked near Honolulu, Hawaii - specifically at the location known as Pearl Harbor. The first barrage was at 7:53 A.M., with a second wave of enemy attacks coming at 8:55 A.M. The attack was over by 9:55 A.M., and in the wake of that destruction there were 2,403 dead, 8 destroyed or damaged battleships and over 180 destroyed airplanes. America’s Pacific Fleet had suffered a catastrophic hit of enemy fire which would be the catalyst for America’s involvement in World War II and, ultimately, Japan’s defeat when two atomic bombs were dropped at the end of summer in 1945.

Marine Corporal E.C. Nightingale was on board the battleship USS Arizona when it was hit by an 1,800 pound bomb and sunk into the ocean, bringing along with it around 1,300 men. “I made my way to the quay and started to remove my shoes when I suddenly found myself in the water. I think the concussion of a bomb threw me in. I started swimming for the pipeline which was about 150 feet away. I was about half way when my strength gave out entirely. My clothes and shocked condition sapped my strength, and I was about to go under when Major Shapley started to swim by, and seeing my distress, grasped my shirt and told me to hang on to his shoulders while he swam in.” Other battleships that were hit included the USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS Utah, USS Pennsylvania, USS West Virginia, USS Nevada and USS Tennessee.

America had been shipping steel and iron ore to Japan as late as 1940, but failing negotiations between the two nations ended the shipments of war material. During the summer of 1941, America also brought about an end to the sending of a most crucial aspect of any nation’s war machine- oil- with Japan losing over 88% of its supply in retaliation for its recent invasion of French Indo-China. A secret deadline for diplomacy was set by Japanese high command for November 25, 1941, a deadline that came to be known to the United States by the use of decoding due to “Operation Magic”. The deadline passed, and officials thought that an attack was imminent on either British Malaya or the Dutch East Indies, since both Britain and the Dutch East Indies had followed suit with America, and had frozen Japanese assets.

In the early morning hours of December 7 United States intelligence services had intercepted and decoded Japanese transmissions which stated that some type of Japanese action was soon to proceed- the message was sent to Washington several hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor began, but the message was delayed and was received at Pearl Harbor only after the attacks had begun.

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor President Franklin D. Roosevelt would address Congress- “I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” Roosevelt would go on to ask for the permission to go to war, with only one dissenting vote being given. Interesting to note is one reason that Representative Jeannette Rankin, avowed pacifist, gave for not voting to go to war: “As a woman I can’t go to war, and I refuse to send anyone else.”

Roosevelt would finish his speech on December 8 with: “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph- so help us God.” On December 11 Germany and Italy would both declare war on America.