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It was a chilly December day, many Said there was a nip in the air.

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The original strike assessment sketch drawn by and presented to Emperor Hirohito in person by lead pilot of the attack Commander Mitsuo Fuchida in a briefing three weeks afterwards (says December 8th because the IJN used Tokyo time wherever they were):
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/172926/article-2541293-1ABB873900000578-259_964-2195194.JPG

A bombing instructor, then carrier combat veteran against the Chinese, made CAG of Akagi in 1939, Fuchida led Japanese torpedo bombers on the first wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor and personally issued the "Tora! Tora! Tora!" radio message, indicating complete surprise achieved.  He remained aloft to observe the second wave and begin his BDA and returned his aircraft to the carrier with 21 flak damage holes and a vital control cable parted by all but one strand, making him a national hero.  He was granted an incredibly rare audience with the emperor where he presented the sketch above.

 Temporarily grounded by illness, Fuchida was wounded at Midway on Akagi's bridge, permanently medically grounded as a result of his wounds he spent the rest of the war doing staff work.  He was ordered out of Tinian two weeks before it fell and all his co-workers there committed ritual suicide.  He was called away from a conference in Hiroshima the day before it was destroyed by the first atom bomb, vaporizing all of his coworkers.  He returned the day after as part of a damage assessment team, a somber mirror image of his prideful strike assessment of 1941.  All of the Hiroshima damage assessment team except Fuchida shortly died of radiation exposure and he was hospitalized.  He got out just in time to attend the surrender ceremony aboard the Missouri.

While scratching a living as a chicken farmer he was called to testify at a war crimes trial which infuriated him with evidence of widespread Japanese torture and murder of POW's.  Determined to present evidence at the next trial that the US was no better he went to meet a friend returning from a POW camp in Colorado, but his friend described good treatment and told him how he had been befriended by a nurse whose missionary parents were beheaded by Japanese troops occupying the Philippines.

All his preconceptions shattered, Fuchida was passing through a train station when he was handed the pamphlet "I Was a Prisoner of Japan" by Doolittle Raid bombardier Jacob DeShazer, who was captured during the 1943 raid and subjected to 34 months of torture and solitary confinement by the Japanese while three of his crew were executed and one died of starvation.  DeShazer became a devout Christian late in his captivity and resolved to do missionary work in Japan after the war.  DeShazer felt guilt for the 50 Japanese killed and 400 wounded by the Doolittle Raid, some of whom were civilians, and in 1948 he had returned to Japan to preach mercy and forgiveness, starting with the pamphlet in Fuchida's hand and later building a church in the city he bombed, Nagoya.  Fuchida was moved to read the bible, converted to Christianity and befriended DeShazer, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary.

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What book is this from??

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I thought they emptied her of her oil?

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Not as of 2017 when I snapped that pic. If they have since then, I don't know.

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Wow. 80 years.
A good friend of mine had an uncle on the Arizona. He goes every few years to see his uncles name on the memorial. My friends father was the twin brother of the uncle that died in the attack. He was on a destroyer in the Pacific during the war. He always had some crazy stories to tell.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cz9gtMTeI

One of the best breakdowns of the attack I've seen.

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I often wondered why did the United States have most of the Pacific Fleet moored in the same port? They must of had some inkling what was going on in the Pacific.

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https://i.imgur.com/H85BMrz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iIYrCJh.jpg

I just visited Pearl for the first time not even 3 months ago , very sombering experience. It's what got my great grandfather to enlist in the navy at the age of 16 to go fight. When the recruiter asked if he was over the age of 18 he was able to say yes because he had a piece of paper with 18 written on it in the bottom of his shoe. So technically he was above 18. Served aboard the USS Bunker Hill and was aboard when it was hit by kamikazes, spent several hours with the sharks before he was picked up. Still have the knife and a piece of a Jap Zero he grabbed while in the water. He always talked about how cold the Pacific was.

Apparently during the kamikaze attack the AA fire was so thick you could "walk on it"

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I thought they emptied her of her oil?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cz9gtMTeI

One of the best breakdowns of the attack I've seen.

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Last time I posted one of these GD toll me to get over it.

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-Jeffery Cox - Rising Sun, Falling Skies.

And my favorite story from the day, even if it was a doomed effort.

https://i.postimg.cc/XJ98mkVQ/uss-nevada-attempts-escape-from-pearl-80g32558.jpg

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https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/357023/D29C5009-9597-489F-B725-D79D5D5A0F92-1719021.jpg


Main guns Pointed over The Arizona.

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My Dad was on the Vestal anchored along side the Arizona.

RIP Dad.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/413/E44D8DE5-2A80-44AD-B496-953E211F7A71-383709.jpg

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All his preconceptions shattered, Fuchida was passing through a train station when he was handed the pamphlet "I Was a Prisoner of Japan" by Doolittle Raid bombardier Jacob DeShazer, who was captured during the 1943 raid and subjected to 34 months of torture and solitary confinement by the Japanese while three of his crew were executed and one died of starvation.  DeShazer became a devout Christian late in his captivity and resolved to do missionary work in Japan after the war.  DeShazer felt guilt for the 50 Japanese killed and 400 wounded by the Doolittle Raid, some of whom were civilians, and in 1948 he had returned to Japan to preach mercy and forgiveness, starting with the pamphlet in Fuchida's hand and later building a church in the city he bombed, Nagoya.  Fuchida was moved to read the bible, converted to Christianity and befriended DeShazer, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary.

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I often wondered why did the United States have most of the Pacific Fleet moored in the same port? They must of had some inkling what was going on in the Pacific.

Of course the war did get us out of the Great Depression.

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80 years ago today...even those who witnessed this event as children are old men and women now.
Cherish them, for they alone personally know the horrors of that day.

RIP to the fallen and Peace be with the soldiers and survivors who lived thru that day.

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I couldn't believe how many Japanese were at the Arizona and Pearl Harbor memorials when I went.

Also the amount of disrespectful choads.