Remembering Pearl Harbor

The Forty-Ninth State Fellows of the UAA Honors College call the attention of the University community to the anniversary of the Japanese attack on U.S. Naval facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Sunday December 7, 1941.

The attack, which brought the U.S. into World War II, involved 353 aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. Torpedoes and bombs sank three American battleships, and damaged three cruisers, three destroyers and a minelayer and destroyed 188 U.S. aircraft. American losses were 2,402 killed, 1,282 wounded; the Japanese had 65 soldiers killed or wounded.

Intended to inhibit the American military from contesting Japanese operations against Australia and Indonesia, the attack was unnecessary, as the U.S. had already decided against such action initially.