Pearl Harbor
Escape From Bataan
By Glenn BarnettMost Americans were surprised by the Japanese attack on pearl Harbor, but the military had known that war with Japan was inevitable. Read more
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military installations on the island of Oahu, territory of Hawaii, Sunday, December 7, 1941, plunged the United States into World War II. The Pearl Harbor anchorage of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet was attacked by two waves of Japanese planes flying from aircraft carriers more than 200 miles north of Hawaii. Eight battleships of the Pacific Fleet, as well as numerous other ships, were sunk or damaged, and 2,403 American lives were lost. Pearl Harbor has become an enduring symbol of American resolve in the wake of the surprise air raid. President Franklin Roosevelt called the date of the Pearl Harbor attack one that would “live in infamy.”
Pearl Harbor
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: Japan’s Naval War Leader
By Michael D. HullBrave, urbane, and complex, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was Japan’s greatest naval strategist and the architect of one of the most stunning achievements in the history of modern warfare. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Submarine Special Missions in the Pacific
By Steven Trent SmithSunsets over Manila Bay are nothing less than spectacular. Once the sun dips below the horizon there is a lingering illumination known as “blue hour” as the sky gradually shifts from pale azure to deep indigo before fading completely into the black tropical night. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Undeclared War in the Atlantic
By James I. MarinoBetween September 1939 and December 1941, the United States moved from neutral to active belligerent in an undeclared naval war against Nazi Germany. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Sinking the Shokaku
By Johnd DomagalskiOn the morning of June 13, 1944, the brilliant new aircraft carrier Taiho weighed anchor and slowly moved out of Tawi-Tawi anchorage in the Sulu archipelago in the southwestern Philippines. Read more
Pearl Harbor
One Vote Against War
By Gary KidneyOn December 8, 1941, America was still shocked by news of war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that the day before had been “a date which will live in infamy” because of the “unprovoked and dastardly attack” by Japan on Pearl Harbor. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Carlson’s Long Patrol: Marine Raiders at Guadalcanal
By Christopher MiskimonOn the morning of November 6, 1942, a force of 267 Marines took its first steps into the jungle from a landing point at Aola Bay, roughly 30 miles east of the American perimeter on Guadalcanal. Read more
Pearl Harbor
First Casualties at Iwo Jima
By Christopher MarksLieutenant Harold Gilson Payne, Jr., was one of the first Americans to die at Iwo Jima. He did not fall in the carnage of the Marine invasion that began on February 19, 1945. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Death of the Fighting Lady: Frank Heineman’s Story
By Joan HuntThe 13,000 ton Independence-class aircraft carrier USS Princeton, which was commissioned on February 25, 1943, quickly became known as the “Fighting Lady.” Read more
Pearl Harbor
Dorie Miller: A Black Sailor’s Heroism at Pearl Harbor
By Michael D. HullHis name was Doris, but he was a powerfully built football fullback, a heavyweight boxer, and the first black American hero of World War II. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Bomber Gunner Ben Kuroki: “Most Honorable Son”
By Sam McGowanIn 1942, many Americans considered anyone of Japanese ancestry to be an enemy, regardless of where they had been born or how long their families had lived in the United States. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Pacific Merchant Marine
By Dr. Carl H MarcouxThe American war in the Pacific proved to be largely a maritime endeavor. Fighting consisted of widespread naval battles between the two major opponents followed by American invasions of Japanese-held island bases. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Confident Carrier Admiral Marc “Pete” Mitscher
By Michael D. HullHe was a seagoing J.E.B. Stuart who hid beneath weather fronts to make his attacks, and he fought more naval engagements than John Paul Jones and David Farragut combined. Read more
Pearl Harbor
From Pearl Harbor to Bikini: The USS Curtiss in Action
By Glenn BarnettGene Verge was born in Pasadena, California, in 1918. As a young man in 1941 he faced the probability of being drafted. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Means of Grace, Hope of Glory
By Robert Barr SmithThey carried no weapons, only holy books and rudimentary vestments, a crucifix or a Star of David and sometimes a little Communion kit. Read more
Pearl Harbor
Was Admiral Richmond K. Turner One of the Worst of WWII’s Leaders?
By Brad ReynoldsHistorical controversy has famously surrounded Admiral Richmond K. Turner. In his responsibility as Director of the War Plans Division, he was to inform Admiral Kimmel, Commander of the Pacific Fleet, of Japanese diplomatic threats alluding to military retribution for souring political relations. Read more
Pearl Harbor
George C. Marshall: Architect of Victory
By Michael D. HullPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt was disturbed in the autumn of 1938 by the Munich agreement, at which the rights of Czechoslovakia were signed away, and by reports of mounting air strength in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Read more
Pearl Harbor
The Battle of the Coral Sea
By John WukovitsWorld War II was less than six months old when the American public, already stunned by the debacles at Pearl Harbor and Guam, faced one of its darkest moments. Read more
Pearl Harbor
A Gamble for Peace: Ellis Zacharias & the South Pacific
By Todd Raffensperger“I submit that it was the wrong decision. It was wrong on strategic grounds. And it was wrong on humanitarian grounds.” Read more
Pearl Harbor
Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki: Underwater Peril at Pearl Harbor
By John PerryDuring the early hours of December 7, 1941, five midget submarinesof the Imperial Japanese Navy waited to enter Pearl Harbor, the anchorage of the U.S. Read more
