"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 Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8th, 1941 speech before Congress asking them to declare war on the Empire of Japan. The vote was unanimous in the Senate, 82-0, and 388-1 in the House.
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Eighty-four years ago, on this date, and on the same day of the week, Sunday, the Empire of Japan, without warning and without declaring war, attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor.
At 7:55 am, Hawaii time (12:55 pm EST), the attack began. The result of the sinister attack was the death of 2,403 people, sailors, soldiers, marines, and civilians, 1,177 of which were on the USS Arizona. As of last year, there are no living survivors of the USS Arizona, the last man, Lou Conter, passed away in April 2024 at the age of 102.
Almost exactly six months later in early June 1942, at the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy sent four Japanese carriers to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. All four, the Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, and Soryu were in the task force that attacked Pearl Harbor. From that point on, the war in the Pacific turned in the United States' favor. It was still bloody and difficult, but the U.S. prevailed just over three years later.
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