In Memory of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941

[TerryMiller]

OK. This one will be somewhat sucky because it is at the Huffington Post. AOL has them as their news and they have so much in the way of images that loading and viewing images can be a time-consuming affair. However, I'll post it because this series of photos (24 in all, I think) shows some photos of Pearl Harbor that I've not seen before. One shows a battleship and two destroyers in drydock with the two destroyers damaged or destroyed. The battle ship appears to be in pretty good shape.

Huffington Post Story on Pearl Harbor

 

[Sanford]

here is a picture of my great uncles ribbons and medals I have only be able to figure out one of them.

Difficult to tell from the picture, but...
Left ribbon ... Phillippine Liberation
Center ribbon and bottom left medal ... Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Top Center Medal ... WWII Army of Occupation
... maybe(?)

 

[farmerbyron]

Keep the stories coming. Love hearing individual stories from WWII. It seems like every story could be made into a book.

 

[vvvvvvv]

There have been recent reports of how the US intelligence reported, and the president ignored the Japanese fleet getting too close to Pearl.

Not so much FDR ignoring the reports as it was withholding intel from Hawaii, relieving or rebuking commanders who tried to shore up Pearl Harbor's defense, sending warning via dispatch (known to take a day in most cases - was a miracle that it arrived only 6 hours after the attack) instead of phone, clearing a path of all Allied vessels between Japan and Hawaii, and basically facilitating the attack. At least, that's according to many, many unclassified documents obtained via FOIA or public availability. (Most of the government's information about Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to and surrounding the attacks are still classified.)

 

[nich018]

God Bless these soldiers, past and present.

 

[OKMike]

My daughters gr gr uncle was peeling potatoes at Hickam when the bombs dropped, he dove under the table and rode it out, died in his boat fishing at Gentry Creek.

 

[dennishoddy]

Not so much FDR ignoring the reports as it was withholding intel from Hawaii, relieving or rebuking commanders who tried to shore up Pearl Harbor's defense, sending warning via dispatch (known to take a day in most cases - was a miracle that it arrived only 6 hours after the attack) instead of phone, clearing a path of all Allied vessels between Japan and Hawaii, and basically facilitating the attack. At least, that's according to many, many unclassified documents obtained via FOIA or public availability. (Most of the government's information about Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to and surrounding the attacks are still classified.)

It was described by President Franklin D.Roosevelt as "a date that will live in infamy", a day on which the slaughter of 2,400 US troops drew America into Second World War and changed the course of history.


Now, on the 70th anniversary of Japan's devastating bombardment of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, evidence has emerged showing that President Franklin D.Roosevelt was warned three days before the attack that the Japanese empire was eyeing up Hawaii with a view to "open conflict."


The information, contained in a declassified memorandum from the Office of Naval Intelligence, adds to proof that Washington dismissed red flags signalling that mass bloodshed was looming and war was imminent.


"In anticipation of possible open conflict with this country, Japan is vigorously utilizing every available agency to secure military, naval and commercial information, paying particular attention to the West Coast, the Panama Canal and the Territory of Hawaii," stated the 26-page memo.


Dated December 4, 1941, marked as confidential, and entitled "Japanese intelligence and propaganda in the United States," it flagged up Japan's surveillance of Hawaii under a section headlined "Methods of Operation and Points of Attack
It noted details of possible subversives in Hawaii, where nearly 40 per cent of inhabitants were of Japanese origin, and of how Japanese consulates on America's west coast had been gathering information on American naval and air forces. Japan's Naval Inspector's Office, it stated, was "primarily interested in obtaining detailed technical information which could be used to advantage by the Japanese Navy."

"Much information of a military and naval nature has been obtained," it stated, describing it as being "of a general nature" but including records relating to the movement of US warships.

The memo, now held at the Franklin D.Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in upstate New York, has sat unpublicised since its declassification 26 years ago. Its contents are revealed by historian Craig Shirley in his new book "December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World."

Three days after the warning was delivered to the White House, hundreds of Japanese aircraft operating from six aircraft carriers unleashed a surprise strike on the US Navy's base at Pearl Harbour, wiping out American battleships, destroyers and air installations. A total of 2,459 US personnel were killed and 1,282 injured.

Conspiracy theorists have long claimed that Roosevelt deliberately ignored intelligence of an imminent attack in Hawaii, suggesting that he allowed it to happen so that he would then have a legitimate reason for declaring war on Japan. Up to that point, public and political opinion had been against America's entry into what was seen largely as a European war, despite Roosevelt's private support for the Allies' fight against the so-called Axis - Germany, Italy and Japan.