December 7, 2017

 

Erica O’Neal

 

Today is the 76^th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. “December 7, 1941 – a date” President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed, “which will live in infamy.”

On this day 76 years ago, 2,403 American servicemen were killed and 1,178 others were injured. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service without warning and without a declaration of war attacked Naval Station Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Territory early on that fateful Sunday morning.

The attack sank four US Navy battleships and damaged four others along with damaging three cruisers, three destroyers and one minelayer. There were 188 aircraft losses and 159 damaged.

Canada was the first Western nation to declare war on Japan hours after the attack. The following day, on December 8, the United States officially declared war on Japan and entered into World War II on the side of the Allied forces.

On the 50^th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1990, US Congress established the Pear Harbor Commemorative Medal, also known as the Pearl Harbor Survivor’s medal. That medal was awarded to anyone who was in the US Armed Forces and who was present in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, and participated in combat operations against the attack. The award also was awarded to civilians who were killed or injured in the attack.