Second World War

Pearl Harbor- 

    I chose to adventure off to Pearl Harbor for our first stop as it was the beginning of the United States entering the Second World War and declaring war against Japan. Pearl Harbor is located on the island of Hawaii west off Honolulu. Today, there is the Pearl Harbor National Memorial that is composed of various ship memorials that were destroyed during the attack and commemorates to the lives that were lost on that faithful day.

Here are some photo graphs of the memorials present day: 

 (USS Arizona)

(USS Oklahoma)

(USS Utah)

  All photos may be found on the Pearl Harbor National Park Service

website: https://www.nps.gov/perl/index.htm

The National Memorial first constructed the first memorial known as the USS Arizona, which was completed in 1962. Along with the USS Arizona, the USS West Virginia, USS Oklahoma, and USS Utah were just a few of the numerous ships that were part of the tragedy that took place. 

Well, what happened? On December 7, 1941, the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval base, Pearl Harbor. The attack caused much devastation as a number of ships and planes on the base were destroyed. It also killed about 2,400 service members and wounded around 1,000 more. This eventually led to the U.S declaration of war against Japan and Germany and Italy soon followed in declaring war against the U.S. 

A film from the Spring of 1942: 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2663255

    Disclaimer: This film is trimmed due to the exceeded length. There is no audio. 

Seen in the film is school children retreating back inside their school after an air raid drill. Right afterwards, it shoots to Japanese store owners painting over Japanese lettering and taking the sign down. Finally, in the last film, we can see the damaged USS California. 

Lt.Col. W.G. Muller Jr., USMC account on Pearl Harbor:

https://mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Remembering-Pearl-Harbor.pdf

In Lt. Col. W.G. Muller Jr.'s Remember Pearl Harbor, he describes the everything he remembered on that day. He was quite familiar with the USS Oklahoma as he had served on the ship. On a regular Sunday morning, there was nothing really happening and just the usual drills. Muller was aboard the USS Oklahoma at the time and as the air attack was being announced, everyone was following protocol in seeking cover down in the third deck. It was seen as a drill until the first torpedo was hit and caused a violent explosion that shook the entire ship. Another hit and water began to seep into the ship. He speaks about how he was able to escape the sinking ship. When he escapes, the sees the destruction of the other ships; engulfed in flames. The Japanese were had many dive bombers coming in waves. He also describes the cries for help and trying to escape the area alongside with some of his men.