If I asked you the significance of this date, December 7, would you know?  If not, then you need to read on. If you do know, you can stop reading right now .

The significance of this day in history is a major part of our world's history. With each passing year the remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor fades away even more. There are fewer survivors with us from the attack that happened 79 years ago today.

The surprise military attack by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes damaged all 8 Navy battleships with four of them being sunk. They also sank or damaged three Navy cruisers, three destroyers an anti-aircraft training vessel, and one mine layer. When the second of two waves of attacks from the Japanese ended, 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed. 2,402 Americans were killed and 1282 were wounded.

The attacks shocked the American people in 1941 and it directly led to the American entry into the war in the Pacific. Keep in mind, we were also about to enter into war in Europe at the same time.  It was Pearl Harbor that most Americans remembered as the first and only attack on American soil until 9-11 took place.

We all remember 9-11, but time has softened the attack of December 7, 1941 on the United States. Still, it is an event that we cannot allow Americans to forget. December 7, 1941 is truly, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt eloquently stated, "a date which will live in infamy”.

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LOOK: 100 years of American military history

 

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