PHILADELPHIA VA MEDICAL CENTER REMEMBERS PEARL HARBOR DAY Seventy-three (73) years ago yesterday, on December 7, 1941, people living on Oahu, Hawaii, were rudely awakened from their Sunday morning repose as war broke out with “lightning suddenness” when the Japanese military bombed U.S. battleships docked at Pearl Harbor naval base. The surprise attacks invoked instant solidarity among Americans and forced U.S. entry into another world war. The Pearl Harbor attack was a defining moment for our nation and the generation who lived through it. Everyone remembered where they were when they heard the news. That generation had already suffered through one of the longest and severe economic depressions in our nation’s history, yet millions of men and women of all ethnicities, young and old alike, showed their resilience by rallying around the war effort because of Pearl Harbor. Millions of them enlisted in the military or civilian services, volunteered for various relief efforts (blood, rubber, etc.), planted war or “victory” gardens, and much more. The attack and its threat to American freedoms ignited an unwavering sense of unity and patriotism in that generation which propelled them to give of themselves as never before. Women left their homes in droves and joined the military, worked in Navy yards or airplane factories, ferried planes, built bombs and other needed items, provided medical and nursing care to soldiers, sailors, and marines, and much more. Over 2,000 U.S. personnel, including civilians, died in the Pearl Harbor attacks and even more were wounded. Within nine minutes of being struck by a 1,760 pound bomb, the USS Arizona sat at the bottom of the ocean with 900 sailors and marines entombed within its hull. Five battleships were sunk, three destroyers, two cruisers, and numerous smaller ships were badly damaged. Only 289 out of 1,472 men aboard the Arizona survived.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 14:07:34 +0000