By Riley Wang, rw163@uakron.edu
On a peaceful morning in Oahu, Hawaii, the sun shines brightly in a cloudless sky. The palm trees sway in the breeze, while the song bird chirps away. It was another beautiful day for the island of Hawaii. Just as the soldiers finished breakfast around 7:50, a squadron of planes covered the clear blue sky. Like a hawk catching a fish, a plane dives low to the water and drops a bomb. “Air raid on Pearl Harbor, This is no drill!” shouts the radioman. The United States is under attack!
Japan was a powerful country but with limited resources. The Japanese believed acquiring land from their neighboring countries would solve this problem; raw material can be used in factories and fertile farmland of the south can provide food for their growing population. With the success of taking over much of China, Japan was hungry for more and they laid their eyes on the South Pacific. Except, they had one major problem: the U.S Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan felt threatened by the presence of the U.S Navy in Hawaii and believed it was necessary to eliminate this threat. So the Japanese came up with a brilliant plan to attack Pearl Harbor and destroy the U.S Navy. That way, the U.S would not intervene with their evil scheme.
On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan led a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. In less than two hours, the Japanese destroyed 19 American ships, including 8 battleships and 300 airplanes. 2,403 American lives were lost and around 1,000 others were wounded. American citizens were shocked by this attack and were determined to go to war. The next day, On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan, and three days later, Germany and Italy, allies of Japan, declared war on the U.S, bringing the United States into World War II.
To Japan’s surprise, the U.S was able to recover quickly from the attack, All of the damaged U.S ships were able to be recovered (except three, USS Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah), and used later during the war. Luckily, aircraft carriers were not present during the time of the attack, as they were important machinery during WWII. Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S Pacific Fleet destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers in June 1942 at the Battle of Midway and later defeated Imperial Japan in August 1945 with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The USS Arizona Memorial, built over the sunken battleship USS Arizona, serves as the final resting places for the sailors killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This December marks the 82th anniversary of the attack. Let's take time to express our gratitude for U.S veterans who fought bravely and selfishly for our freedom. Thank them for their service and we must never forget their sacrifice! Freedom is not free!
Comentarios