Dammit, yesterday was Pearl Harbor Day

By yesterday, I mean 10 minutes ago, but I completely lost track of the calendar for a while there. Been busy today, and I tend to not note the date on weekends. My bad.

In any event, 72 years ago yesterday, the Japanese blasted America into Worl War II by attacking Pearl Harbor without warning that they were even particularly upset with us. Things could have been much worse -- no aircraft carriers were in port at the time, and only three ships, the USS Utah, a battleship being used as a target ship, and the USS Shaw, a destroyer whose front end got blown off when its forward magazine went up, and, of course, the USS Arizona, which went down taking nearly 1,200 U.S. sailors and Marines with her. I visited the USS Arizona Memorial numerous times while in high school just a short bike ride away, and used to go fishing off the pier on Ford Island where the USS Maryland was moored during the attack. Here is an aerial view of the Arizona Memorial:

The Arizona was left in place as a permanent memorial to the men who died with her that day -- more than half the of U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines who died during the attack were aboard the Arizona. Three men aboard the Arizona were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions that day -- two of them posthumously.

The Naval History and Heritage website provides some good pictures and narrative regarding the Pearl Harbor attack, including this shot of the battleship USS West Virginia:

Amazingly, the West Virginia was raised and went on to fight the Japanese later in the war. The Naval History webiste provides this caption:

Sailors in a motor launch rescue a survivor from the water alongside the sunken USS West Virginia (BB-48) during or shortly after the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor. USS Tennessee (BB-43) is inboard of the sunken battleship. Note extensive distortion of West Virginia's lower midships superstructure, caused by torpedoes that exploded below that location. Also note 5"/25 gun, still partially covered with canvas, boat crane swung outboard and empty boat cradles near the smokestacks, and base of radar antenna atop West Virginia's foremast. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives collection.

In 1967-68, while my father was in Khe Sanh, my family lived in Virginia Beach. Our next-door neighbor was an old Navy man named Elmer Shoenfelter, who was aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania at the time of the attack. He used to tell me stories and show me pictures -- official Navy pictures, as he was too busy trying not to get killed to take his own -- of the Pearl Harbor attack. The Pennsylvania was in dry dock that day and emerged largely undamaged. She was quickly back in the war, taking my future neighbor with her. In this photo, the Pennsylvania is the ship behind the two jacked-up destroyers in the foreground:

 Yes, two. One fell over against the other, and the drydock was flooded to put out fires, so it can be a little tough to tell. The  Naval History website provides this caption:

The wrecked destroyers USS Downes (DD-375) and USS Cassin (DD-372) in Drydock One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, soon after the end of the Japanese air attack. Cassin has capsized against Downes. USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is astern, occupying the rest of the drydock. The torpedo-damaged cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) is in the right distance, beyond the crane. Visible in the center distance is the capsized USSOklahoma (BB-37), with USS Maryland (BB-46) alongside. Smoke is from the sunken and burning USS Arizona (BB-39), out of view behindPennsylvania. USS California (BB-44) is partially visible at the extreme left. This image has been attributed to Navy Photographer's Mate Harold Fawcett. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives collection.

There is more information and more photos here. Hat tip to Ace for guiding me to this site.

Pearl Harbor demonstrated how gutted our military was at the outset of World War II. We lacked the resources for a meaningful response in the immediate aftermath of the attack and were forced to watch helplessly while Wake Island, the Phillipines, Singapore and most of the rest of the Far East fell to the Japanese. Nice to see that we have a president who thinks the military is there primarily to serve as the first and only place to cut the budget. Hope you remembered Pearl Harbor Day before I did.