On this date in 1941, the Japanese surprised the United States Navy with an attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii  that virtually disabled our ships there and killed thousands.

War News
loading...

On that "day that will live in infamy"  the base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers.   All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk.

All but two of the eight were raised, repaired and returned to service later in the war.  The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer.  One hundred eighty-eight U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded.  These facts came from historical websites like Wikipedia.

Today's Washington Post online has a rare video posted of a live newscaster reporting the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941.  There are still some sailors who were there and remember that fateful day.   I found one such story from a website called MercuryNews.com.

More From 1130 The Tiger