Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
December 7
Just before 8am on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes carried out a devastating attack on the Pearl Harbor American Naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. The Japanese aircrews managed to achieve complete surprise and for two hours, Japanese fighter, bomber and torpedo planes carried out a shocking assault on the naval base.
Significance of Pearl Harbor to the United States’ WWII Involvement
Prior to the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the United States had maintained formal neutrality in the global escalation of conflict. Up until this point, America had isolated itself from the conflicts in Asia and Europe, but over time, these conflicts had built unimaginable tension. The attack on Pearl Harbor was essentially the breaking point. On Dec. 8, 1941, just one day after the attack, the United States declared war on Japan. As a result, on Dec. 11, 1941, Germany and Italy retaliated with a declaration of war on the United States, as they were allied to Japan under the Tripartite Pact (or the Axis Pact) of 1940.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Dec. 7, 1941 as, “a date which will live in infamy.” After years of a global conflict, the United States had officially entered into World War II.