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In light of tomorrow being the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, I chose to do my historical event on the documentary “Pearl Harbor in Color”. December 7, 1941 the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor with an aerial assault that many Americans claim to be unprovoked and a total surprise. The United States Pacific fleet was stationed at Pearl Harbor which was thought to be impenetrable to naval forces due to its narrow entry and heavy military and aerial support nearby. The Japanese were able to park their fleet about 220 miles away from Pearl and early the morning of the 7th sent 183 fighters in the first wave. The Navy was totally surprised and unprepared when the first wave hit. Many sailors commented they thought their fighters were training or that the B17’s schedule to fly in that day were arriving. The 2nd wave of fighters numbered 268 and succeeded in sinking the battleship Arizona along with 1177 men were it still remains today in the harbor. The Oklahoma was hit with 10 torpedos and capsized in the harbor trapping and killing 429 men who were caught in the hull. The Japanese had apparently been planning the attack for over a year according to evidence. They struck on a Sunday which was the one day their were no surveillance planes in the air and weather and the mountains made it so radar did not detect the fighters approaching. In the end 2388 Americans were killed and 1178 wounded. The Japanese only lost 29 planes in the attack. It was considered a total victory for the Japanese.
As a future historian, I have learned that contrary to what I was always told about Pearl Harbor was not entirely the truth. The Japanese had been put under intense pressure due to tariffs placed on them in regards to fuel. The US had essentially cut off their resources previous to the attack causing desperation. Many historians have been documented as saying they believe FDR knew about the attack and allowed it to happen in order to galvanize the American public in support of entering WWII. This continues to be a topic of debate among historians. In the aftermath racism towards Asian Americans reached dangerous levels. Japanese living in Hawaii following the attacks were immediately being threatened by servicemen and the embassy was raided. We all know shortly after the Japanese were gathered into internment camps as a result of this attack. The Arizona memorial is available to visitors to this day were the ship still lay below as a watery grave to over 1100 men.