Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Remember Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941

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Today is the 70th anniversary of the December 7th. attack on Pearl Harbor, which then President FDR called, a "Day which will live in Infamy".

The number of people who lived through the day and those who lived through the attack decreases every year. The day will come when only a very few historians will remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, but this is not that day.

Over 300 planes from six aircraft carriers attacked Pearl Harbor that day. Some 2400 Americans lost their life in the attack and more than 1200 were wounded.

America in 1941 was steeped in isolationism. The unexpectedness and seeming treachery of the attack galvanized America into action. The US declared war on Japan December 8th. Italy and German declared war on the US three days later and the US reciprocated. The US was committed to, what would become known as, the Second World War.

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