Had you been alive 81 years ago, (by the time you would have read this tomorrow morning) the events of the morning at Pearl Harbor already set in motion America's honest * involvement in the war that enveloped this planet (I do not believe they called it WWII during the war).
* officially, the US was staying out of the war but behind the scenes the US was providing supplies, weaponry, and intel to the Allied Forces. US Policies and certain actions were seen, by Japan, as meddling in their sovereign affairs leading them to justify their attack.
The brutal surprise attack on our Navy and Army Air Corps at Naval Station Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Field was devastating. More than 2,400 men and women (mostly men) died in the attack. Nearly 1,200 people, military and civilians, were wounded. 19 ships and more than 300 planes were damaged or destroyed.
In 2000 (and later on), I had the honor to interview six USS Arizona survivors and two from Hickam. I have since interviewed a dozen or so (and most of them have since passed on). For any Sailor, to meet these men was like walking into a church and meeting the Pope. I have never met such humble men, who in my eyes, stood higher than Mount Olympus.
When the continental US awoke that morning, by then the die had been cast. Not officially. BUT we were at war. That only became academic--and official--when President Roosevelt spoke before Congress, and when Congress declared war against Japan.
Remember Pearl Harbor.
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