Photos: Remembering the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. The assault, which precipitated U.S. entry into World War II, resulted in 2,400 Americans killed and 1,200 wounded. It also inflicted heavy damage to the U.S. Pacific fleet, as five of eight battleships, three destroyers and seven other ships were sunk or severely damaged.
Pearl Harbor Attack
Believed to be the first bomb dropped on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in the sneak-attack on Dec. 7, 1941, this picture was found torn to pieces at Yokusuka Base by photographer's mate 2/C Martin J. Shemanski of Plymouth, Pa. One Japanese plane is shown pulling out of a dive near bomb eruption (center) and another the air at upper right. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
Panoramic view of Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack of Dec. 7, 1941. Note warship in background being hit by torpedo and spouting water. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
Three U.S. battleships are hit from the air during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Japan's bombing of U.S. military bases at Pearl Harbor brings the U.S. into World War II. From left are: USS West Virginia, severely damaged; USS Tennessee, damaged; and USS Arizona, sunk. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack USS SHAW
The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Pearl Harbor Attack
As heavy smoke rolls out of the stricken USS West Virginia, a small boat rescues a crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. Two men can be seen on the superstructure, upper center. The mast of the USS Tennessee is beyond the burning West Virginia. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
FILE - In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP File Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
The battleship USS West Virginia is seen afire after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack USS SHAW
Black smoke pours from the U.S. Destroyer USS Shaw after a direct hit by bombs during the surprise aerial attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Defenders on the pier at left throw water into the blazing wreckage. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Pearl Harbor Attack
Two ships are seen burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo. (AP Photo, File)
Pearl Harbor Attack cruiser
An undamaged light cruiser steams out past the burning USS Arizona and takes to sea with the rest of the fleet during the Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)
Pearl Harbor Attack Hickam
Planes are lined up at Hickam Field, Air Corps post on Oahu, Hawaii, in an undated image. Reports said that a Japanese bomb struck the field. Washington made the announcement Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
WSJ War extra
The Wisconsin State Journal's extra edition published on the afternoon of Dec. 7, 1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
State Journal front page Dec. 8, 1941
Wisconsin State Journal front page for Dec. 8, 1941.
Pearl Harbor Attack
A column of black smoke rises from the U.S. Navy base in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii at 7:55 a.m., Sun., Dec. 7, 1941 as Japan declared war against the United States. Bombs exploding over "Battleship Row," awakened Mrs. Mary Naiden of New York City, who was serving as a hostess at the Army's Hickam Field. She thought a U.S. plane had crashed into a gasoline or oil depot and took this photo without leaving her room. (AP Photo/Mary Naiden)
Pearl Harbor Attack
The shattered wreckage of American planes bombed by the Japanese in their attack on Pearl Harbor is strewn on Hickam Field, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
Flaming oil throws a billow of smoke skyward in the Japanese attack on Hickam Field, Pearl Harbor, U.S. Air base near Honolulu, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
This is one of the first pictures of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. A P-40 plane which was machine-gunned while on the ground. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
A mass of twisted metal wreckage lay along a Honolulu street after the city had been attacked by Japanese planes Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
Firemen and civilians rush to the scene with fire hoses to save homes and stores in the Japanese and Chinese sections of Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. As Japanese aviators rained bombs on Pearl Harbor, starting war in the Pacific, offshore properties are also wrecked and burned. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
Rescue workers help evacuate the Lunalilo High School in Honolulu after the roof of the main building was hit by a bomb during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, a Japanese plane goes into its last dive as it heads toward the ground in flames after it was hit by Naval anti-aircraft fire during a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
This photograph, from a Japanese film later captured by American forces, is taken aboard the Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, just as a Nakajima "Kate" B-5N bomber is launching off deck for the second wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack
In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, a small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (AP Photo)
Pearl Harbor Attack newspapers
In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, people buy newspapers reporting the Japanese attack on U.S. bases in the Pacific Ocean, at Times Square in New York. (AP Photo/Robert Kradin)
Pearl Harbor Roosevelt
In this file photo, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the declaration of war following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 1941 at 3:08 p.m. EST. Watching from left to right are, Rep. Sol Bloom, D-N.Y.; Rep. Luther Johnson, D-Texas; Rep. Charles A. Eaton, R-N.J.; Rep. Joseph Martin, R-Mass.; Vice President Henry A. Wallace; House Speaker Sam Rayburn, D-Texas; Rep. John McCormack, D-Mass.; Sen. Charles L. McNary, R-Ore.; Sen. Alben W. Barkley, D-Ky.; Sen. Carter Glass, D-Va.; and Sen. Tom Connally, D-Texas. (AP Photo, file)
"What do we do?" William Scheer asked as he watched Japanese fighter jets careen toward Pearl Harbor. "The bombs kept coming and falling."
