2011 PEARL HARBOR 70TH ANNIVERSARY BRONZE POOF

DECEMBER 7, 1941: "A date which will live in infamy.” No event in Hawaii has had such worldwide impact as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that forced America into a war that ultimately lead to victory and a dominant role in world affairs. Sunday morning, December 7th, 1941. The day begins serenely. Soldiers and airman at Hickam Field are at morning mess. Sailors and marines at Pearl Harbor have light duty schedules. False alerts and training exercises over the past month have frazzled nerves and sapped morale, but fleecy clouds in the azure sky and warm Pacific sea breezes invites the men to relax and refresh themselves. But the morning calm is deceptive. The fluffy clouds conceal a deadly danger that is already descending on the vulnerable fleet. Sailors watch in disbelief as the first torpedoes rip into the ships along Battleship Row and the first casualties fall. Then the training kicks in. Resistance builds and stiffens. Even men who have never fired a shot in anger, man machine guns and open fire. One of them, a Chaplin, utters one of the many memorable phrases of that fateful day, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”. Two hours and twenty minutes later, it is over. The Japanese planes and their pilots return to their carriers. Ahead of them a delirious Japan waits to lavish honors on them for their incredible victory. Behind them, lie a sunken fleet and a United States at war. The attack on Pearl Harbor moved millions of Americans to enlist in the fight against tyranny. America was victorious and became more powerful than anyone could have imagined. So powerful that America was named the world’s first “Superpower.”