Pearl Harbor 65th anniversary.

Sorry not to post Dec 6ths events. My regular source has been off line.


In Washington, DC, a newly-formed US government
subcommittee, named "S-1," meets. Its task is to establish,within six months, if an atomic bomb can be produced by theUnited States, and if so, at what cost.

That afternoon, Japan sends a the first segments of a 14-
part message to its embassy in Washington, ordering them topresent their final demands to the United States at 1 p.m.Washington time, tomorrow. This message is intercepted anddecoded by the Americans faster than the Japanese can do it.
This intelligence lands in the hands of Lt. Cdr. Alvin
Kramer of the Navy's Cryptographic Department, who drives around Washington that evening, showing the message to top officials.
The message indicates that the Japanese intend to break off negotiations completely, and is filled with inconclusive
posturing.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt reads the document, and says "This means war." He then sends a personal message to Japan's Emperor Hirohito, begging him to start negotiations afresh. Other American senior officers are less certain that the message means war. Some senior officers, like Gen. George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, and Rear Adm. Richmond K. Turner, Chief of War Plans, cannot be reached that evening. No warnings go out to Hawaii, or anywhere else, for that matter.
When Roosevelt's message reaches Tokyo (after a long delay by the Japanese telegraph agency), US Ambassador Robert C. Grew passes it on to the Foreign Ministry and asks for an immediate audience with the Emperor. Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, the fiercest militarist, denies the American request.
At Pearl Harbor, all eight battleships of the Pacific Fleet
are in port, and all three carriers are at sea. On the battleship USS Arizona, YN3 Oree Weller stands zone
inspection in the ship's navigation office. He just manages to clean up dripping red paint before CAPT Franklin Van Valkenburgh inspects the space. Weller's space passes inspection, and Weller is handed his liberty card for that evening.
"A river of white flows down Hotel Street" that evening as
thousands of Sailors descend on Honolulu's main entertainment area, filled with shooting galleries, pinball machines, taxi- dancehalls, and cafes named the Black Cat, the Bunny Ranch, or Lousy Lui's. However, both the Shore Patrol and the Military Police have a quiet night...one Sailor is jailed for a "malicious conversation," and another from USS California for using a shipmate's liberty card. Only 80 out of 100,000 military on liberty or pass are carted off to brigs and guardhouses.
Many Sailors and soldiers enjoy simpler pleasures. PFC
Aloysius Manuszewski has a beer at the PX, and then writes home to his parents in Buffalo, N.Y. Officers' clubs hold small parties and Dutch treats. ENS Victor Delano spends a properly respectful evening at the home of RADM Isaac C. Kidd, who is COMBATDIV 2. It is the last night Kidd will be alive.
A lot of Sailors go Pearl Harbor's Bloch Recreation Arena,
where the main event is the "Battle of Music," a musical contest between ship's bands. The contest is won by USS Pennsylvania. The band of USS Arizona finishes second. The musicians are rewarded by being allowed to sleep late the following day. Not one member of Arizona's band survives the attack.
At midnight, Hawaii's stern blue laws kick in. At bars and
clubs throughout Honolulu, the National Anthem is played. Sailors and Soldiers snap to attention, face the music, then race for the doors, buses, and liberty boats.
Some have to work. The swing shift at the Pearl Harbor
drydock puts new steel plates on the destroyer USS Downes and aligns boring bars on the USS Pennsylvania's propeller shafts, while loudspeakers blare "Moonlight Serenade." Japanese midget submarines use the work lights to navigate towards the base.
Radio station KGMB is ordered to stay on the air after
midnight to guide in a flight of 12 B-17 Flying Fortresses due in from the West Coast.
North of Hawaii, the attacking Japanese task force increases speed to 25 knots, and six midget submarines are released from their mother boats off Oahu, in a bid to cause additional chaos at Pearl Harbor. Among them is a midget sub commanded by Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki.
On the carrier Akagi, Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo sends amessage to his fleet: "The fate of the Empire rests on this
enterprise. Every man must devote himself totally to the task athand."

P.S. The news of today also made me think of the civil war veterans that sadly growed older, just like the Pearl Harbor survivors are doing today.


Here they go, Pickett's men, across the field to the stony top in 1913, the 50th Anniversary of Gettysburg.

The Japanese war machine is steamrollering the allies throughout the Pacific.. FDR today makes his famous speech telling the nation why we are at war and asks for a declaration to make it official.

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.....In the PI....American radar picks off the Japanese, send the message to Clark Field...and nobody gets it because the teletype operator has gone to lunch, along with the fighter and bomber pilots, who loll on the grass while eating their sandwiches. When the Japanese swoop in at lunchtime, the Americans think they are Navy planes dropping tinfoil until the "tinfoil" explodes.

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Japanese aircraft attack the Philippines. American planes are on the ground when Japanese planes swarm in.
American radar picks off the Japanese, send the message to Clark Field...and nobody gets it because the teletype operator has gone to lunch, along with the fighter and bomber pilots, who loll on the grass while eating their sandwiches. When the Japanese swoop in at lunchtime, the Americans think they are Navy planes dropping tinfoil until the "tinfoil" explodes. The Japanese destroy 86 out of 160 American aircraft, losing only seven planes. While the top commanders are Pearl Harbor are pilloried for their mistakes, the top airman in the Philippines, Maj. Gen.
Lewis H. Brereton, is not.

Japanese aircraft also attack Wake Island, defended by 12 F4F Grumman Wildcats of VMF 211. The island is defended by 378 Marines, and 75 Navy Sailors, who are reinforced by civilian construction workers finishing the island's airfield. The Japanese bombs wreck the island's fuel tanks and incinerate nine aircraft. The construction workers take over the island galley and other chores to free Marines and Sailors to fight.

New Zealand declares war on Japan at 11 a.m., local time. Her only Army unit in the Pacific is 8th Infantry Brigade in Fiji. Her two light cruisers, HMS Achilles and HMS Leander, are in the Pacific. Her first-line aircraft at home consist of 36 Hudson patrol bombers, 35 ancient Vincent bombers, and 2 Singapore flying boats. However, two squadrons of Brewster Buffalo F2A fighters are stationed in Malaya. Great things are expected of this plane, which Allied leaders say is superior to Japan's Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

In Malaya, Japanese troops are ashore and moving inland fast, relying on bicycles. British Adm. Tom Phillips takes his two battleships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, to sea to destroy the Japanese convoys. In China, Claire Chennault, leader of a group of American mercenary fighter pilots flying for Chiang Kai-Shek, moves his three squadrons from their training areas in Burma to Kunming in China.

That afternoon, Franklin D. Roosevelt goes up to the Capitol in a limousine called the Queen Mary, surrounded by Secret Servicemen, and reads a speech to a joint session of Congress from a school notebook. "Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..." he begins. He concludes, "No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."

The House of Representatives is packed with dignitaries,
including Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. The Declaration of War on Japan is passed with one dissenting vote, Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who also voted against the Declaration of War on Germany in 1917. The United States enters history's greatest conflict infuriated and unified.That determination enables the US to ultimately win the war.

syscom3 said:

In Malaya, Japanese troops are ashore and moving inland fast, relying on bicycles. British Adm. Tom Phillips takes his two battleships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, to sea to destroy the Japanese convoys.

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Great thread Sys, However you missed one important piece of history. On Dec 8 (Malayan time) No. 1 sqn RAAF launched a series of attacks against the Japanese invasion forces, sinking 2 ships and numerous barges and damaging one other vessel. These attacks were made by Hudsons at mast top height, two a/c were lost in the initial attack. Because of the International date line, this all occured BEFORE Pearl harbour.
Read here for an overview of these events.
The Japanese landing at Kota Bharu, on December 7th 1941

Well to those who perrished at Pearl Harbor and those who fought for years afterwards.

Even though I haven't commented before now, I've followed the posts here with interest. Nice thought for a thread, sys. Good job.

To echo Adler: