For quite a while during 1941 the leaders of the allied forces in Europe fighting against Nazi Germany had pleaded with the United States to join in the fight. America had sternly opposed committing troops to another war, even though we sent aid and supplies to the European effort. This was the continued sentiment on Saturday December 6th of that year. It was all about to change with the coming of Sunday morning.

The United States Navy Pacific Fleet was moored in port at Pearl Harbor Hawaii enjoying some relaxing time in the south pacific islands. The Western hub of Americas military lie on the volcanic rock of Oahu. There was an Army Air Corps at Wheeler Field in the middle of the island with Hickam Field being at the water’s edge, and in the calm and protected waters of pearl harbor lay the naval fleet including 8 Battleships and numerous support vessels to total about 130 ships.

Making its way toward the sleepy island chain was an armata of Japanese ships to include four aircraft carriers. The leader of the flotilla was the famed Admiral Yamamoto with the Air operations being controlled by Admiral Nagumo. The Japanese had for many months been in negotiations with the United States for control of the many chains of islands throughout the pacific. Emperor Hirohito was determined to expand his empire.

On the morning of December 7th, 1941, just after 8 AM all ideas about peace between the Japanese and the US were vanquished as a surprise attack began and the American fleet was decimated while in port at Pearl Harbor. Twice the Japanese Imperial Navy reloaded their planes and attacked the American ships. Destruction was great along what was known as Battleship Row, many other ships were destroyed or damaged. The planes at Wheeler and Hickam Fields were neutralized and even civilians felt the wrath of the Japanese assault having their homes shot to pieces or fell victim to machine gun fire as they ran for cover along the streets. This attack was pure brutality with no mercy for anyone on the ground or in the water. At the end of the attack, it was listed that 2,403 Americans were killed, of them 69 civilians, and 1,178 were injured. The onslaught was nondiscriminatory by the venomous Japanese pilots killing men women and children. The culmination of this attack appeared to have finally brought the United States into the Second World War. During the return to Japan, Admiral Yamamoto was quoted as saying “I fear we have only awakened a sleeping giant.” He was strongly opposed to waging war with the United States.

Upon learning of the surprise attack and the resulting devastation our President and Commander in Chief Franklin Delano Roosevelt, addressed the nation on the radio explaining to the unknowing public what had happened in Hawaii. FDR spoke of the destruction and the loss of lives. He began with one of the most notable quotes of the century that is still remembered in this millennium. He said about the attack in his address, “Yesterday, December 7th, 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.” Congress was then asked for a declaration of war. This sealed our commitment to not just fighting the war in the Pacific but also brought troops to the ground in Europe as well. The enormous war machine became full swing in the United States and a military that could be rivaled by no other was expediently built.

We look back upon those days where most Americans alive today were not even born yet. Multiple generations have grown up with only history to tell us of such evil events as Pearl Harbor. The most iconic representation of the attack being the loss of the Battleship Arizona, and most of its crew, some being drown as they sunk to the depths trapped within its wreckage, remains as a memorial to those lost and a gratitude to those who survived and went on to defeat the Japanese and Germans to once again restore peace throughout the world.

This year we saw the passing of the last of the survivors who was spared death on the Arizona when Lou Contor a sailor assigned to that ship died in April of 2024. Such news brings more importance to the memory and the reason to retell the stories of this fateful day. Because it truly was a date that lives in infamy and with the vanishing of our “Greatest Generation” so could the memory of such events, but for the few who will speak of it on such an anniversary.

As we say when each December arrives, on the seventh day of that month, Remember Pearl Harbor.

Kirk L. Miller, Past Commander in 2023-2024 of the Chautauqua County American Legion, 8th District Department of New York