Tora Tora Tora!

**Please note….our niece Anastasia flew out to meet us in Hawaii for a week and she agreed to be a guest blogger and wrote this great piece on Pearl Harbour!

I had the amazing opportunity to visit my family out in Oahu, Hawaii, and it was one of the best trips of my life! I received a call on a Thursday night at dance from the Papulkas/Tutte’s asking if I wanted to fly out and meet them for the remainder of their visit in Hawaii, so I booked the first flight out and I was off to paradise! After a few relaxing days on the beach resort in Ko O’lina, we set off for the busy city of Waikiki to explore the island of Oahu and take in all it had to offer.

We set our first day aside to visit Pearl Harbour – home of the tragic loss of the Pacific American fleet during World War II. Being a history major at UofT, I decided that this should be the blog post that I should write about. World War II was the most fascinating topic I have learned about so far in my schooling, but I really have only learned about what had happened in Europe with the Allies and the Axis powers—especially the Holocaust. I knew about the Japanese attacking the United States at Pearl Harbour, but I had not learned what had led up to it, as well as the results.

When we first arrived, we were directed into a museum which had a timeline of the events leading up to the bombing as well as the bombing itself. The museum was filled with information, pictures, videos and paraphernalia from the time. It all started following World War I – America was falling into the Great Depression, whereas Japan was seeking the opportunity to expand. Japan used their military to settle in China, expanding their territory. The United States deployed its Pacific fleet to Pearl Harbour, worried that they could be a future target. Some have called it a conspiracy as to why the U.S. would move their entire fleet to an area with such a big target, while others thought it would be a smart move to combat the Japanese.

Oahu was a major military base housing over 45,000 U.S. soldiers. Admiral Kimmel (Marines) and Lieutenant General Short (army) were responsible for the soldiers. Neither thought that an attack by air was likely so they were prepared for water as well as land attacks.

On the morning of December 7th 1941, it was a quiet ordinary morning in Oahu. The American soldiers had no clue what was coming for them. There were a group of incoming planes from the northeast being picked up on the radar, but the Americans were expecting some of their planes flying in that day so the alert was waved off. A few short minutes later, that’s when it all began. A wave of Japanese fighter planes, hooked up with guns and torpedoes, attacked the unsuspecting soldiers. They launched the torpedoes into the water towards the American battleships which were all lined up conveniently in the harbour. Men jumped off the ships while others tried to rescue those who were trapped. The oil burned and fuelled the fire on the ships. By the end of the first wave, the Japanese had successfully attacked Pearl Harbour before anyone had time to react.

“Tora! Tora! Tora!” was the Japanese code meaning they had attacked with absolute surprise and success. A little while later, a second wave of Japanese fighter planes flew in. They bombed all the American planes – which were all lined up tip to tip in the field (another point adding to the conspiracy theory). They continued to shoot at those still trying to make it off the battle ships and on the shore. This time, the US soldiers were able to take a few of the Japanese planes down, but not soon enough. By the end of the tragic disaster, there were 2400 deaths recorded and 1200 casualties. This attack caused the United States to declare war on Japan, and allowed them to enter World War II.

After we had exited the museum, we took a short ferry ride to the memorial, which was built over top of one of the sunken battleships—the USS Arizona. The USS Arizona held the majority of the fleet (1100 men from the Arizona were killed). Upon arriving at the memorial, we removed our hats out of respect to the fallen soldiers. You could see different parts of the ships raised above the water as well as streams of oil still escaping from the wreckage. It was a very hard sight to see as it evoked many emotions. There was a wall inside the memorial covered with every name of soldiers whose lives were taken away at the harbour. We looked around and paid our respects before returning to the main land.

USS Arizona Memorial

Memorial

USS Arizona still underwater

Oil still leaks from the wreckage

I believe that Pearl Harbour is a must-visit site in order to fully understand the tragedy the occurred. It made me really think about how precious life can be and how quickly it can be taken away. The thought of that attack happening right where I stood a mere 74 years ago was sickening and incredibly sad but it was inspiring about how it allowed for a country to pull together and fight to avoid having another incident like that. It really added to my World War II knowledge and it was an experience I will never forget.