One day, about 5 years ago, my mom and I took a trip to Hawaii. We visited two islands Oahu and Maui. Our adventure started in Oahu. My mom had planned something every day, to my dismay. Most of the excursions were bus tours and one or two stops at small local shops around the island. I don't remember much of these bus tours, but the only thing I do remember was from these tours, if I’m being perfectly honest, sleeping. There were, however, two things I did enjoy on this trip, one, in particular, was our trip to Pearl Harbor. I had grown up in a family full of history lovers, so I knew my facts, it also helped my mom had made me watch several documentaries before we left. I was amazed at the stories our tour guide had us as we went onto the memorial. One of the things he told us I remember in perfect detail. He told us that all the surviving sailors from Pearl wished to be buried under the ship. He also told us that the oil that was coming from below the memorial would continue to flow until every one of the surviving sailors died. Which as a matter of fact, I got to meet one of these survivors. His name was Sterling Cale, and the more I talked to him, the more he made me wonder more and more about what happened after Pearl Harbor and what our nation did in retaliation. My questions about what led up to World War 2, what happened in retaliation to Pearl Harbor, and what happened after World War 2 were answered the more I researched and talked to this man.
Pearl Harbor was the start of World War 2 for the U.S. After World War l on November 11, 1918, all nations agreed to stop fighting. Germany and the allies( Britain, France Italy, and Russia) agreed to sign the treaty of Versailles.
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Before Pearl Harbor, there was a major debate on what role the U.S should play in the war, or should it even have one at all.
Many Americans felt saddened by the fact that their efforts had been wasted and that entering World War 1 had been a mistake.
Hundreds of thousands of American men were killed or wounded in World War 1, Many mothers were without, their sons, and husband. Many children were without their fathers.
The U.S eventually decided to stay out of the War in order to give time for the country to heal.
“Neither the rise of Adolf Hitler to power nor the escalation of Japanese expansionism did much to change the nation’s isolationist mood.”
Until one day on December 7th, 1941, Just before 8 am, hundreds of Japanese bomber planes descended on the island base.
Pearl Harbor, itself, was a naval base located in Honolulu, in Ohau, Hawaii
In the attack, the Japanese managed to severely damage or destroy almost 20 naval vessels
Over 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians,
Another 1,000 people were wounded
The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. However, the Japenese had already started planning their next attack, amended at the Allied Base, on Midway Island.
After the success at pearl harbor Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy, decided to crush the rest of the U.S. Pacific fleet with an attack at the Allied base at Midway Island. Midway itself, was an island were several allied bases were located. Yamamoto had planned an attack starting with a wave of airplane attacks coming from the Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. Then there would be an invasion with a combination of ships and soldiers led by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. Yamamoto suspected that U.S reinforcements from Pearl Harbor would arrive so he planned a joint strike by Nagumo’s fleet and his own, which would be waiting for 600 miles to the west. However, Yamamoto's plan didn't go all according to plan. With the Japanese fleet scattered all across the sea, Yamamoto had to transmit strategies over the radio. enabling Navy cryptanalysts based in Hawaii to figure out when Japan planned to attack (June 4 or 5) and the planned order of attack from the Japanese Navy. “With this information, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, could develop a plan to combat the invasion.” The Japanese had guessed that the U.S. aircraft carrier, Yorktown, which had been damaged during the Battle of the Coral Sea, would be unavailable at Midway. However they were strongly mistaken, the damaged carrier was repaired in only two days, and left on May 30 to regroup with other U.S. ships near Midway in preparation for Japan’s attack.
The Japanese had planned an attack on the Aleutian Islands on June 3 as a diversion, and as a result, a group of U.S. B-17 Flying Fortress bombers flew from Midway to attack Kondo’s invasion force, which they thought was the main Japanese fleet. This unsuccessful attack marked the beginning of the Battle of Midway.
Before dawn the next day, more B-17s left Midway for a second attack on the Japanese invasion force but were sadly unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Nagumo launched the first phase of Japan’s attack as planned, sending 108 Japanese warplanes from the four aircraft carriers to strike Midway. After inflicting severe damage to the U.S. base, the first Japanese attack had ended by 7 a.m., leaving the airfield still useable and U.S. anti-aircraft defenses still intact.
After the attack, Nagumo informed his pilots that another attack was needed.
U.S. aircraft from midway started attacking the four Japanese carriers with little success.
After this small squabble tried to start gearing up Japanese aircraft for a second attack., but not long after a Japanese scout spotted U.S. aircraft carriers east of Midway. So as a result Nagumo ordered all the aircraft that were armed to gear up for an attack while the rest of the planes returned.
While Nagumo was busy getting ready for the attack the U.S sent a wave of U.S Devastator torpedo bombers to attack the Japanese ships. Unescorted by fighter planes, almost all of the U.S. fleet was shot down by Japanese Zero fighters.
About an hour after the Japenese had attacked, while the Japenese were refueling their planes for another attack, a wave of U.S bombers shot down three of the Japanese carriers ( the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu).
As a response to the U.S attack the last Japanese carrier, Hiryu sent two waves of bombers to the U.S carrier, Yorktown, but were met with an attack from all three of the U.S. carriers. The U.S eventually won and set the Hiryu ablaze. The victory of the battle gave the U.S. forces confidence and turned the tide of war in the Pacific.
After the battle, Yamamoto and his forces knew that with the loss of their four main carriers they would have no chance of succeeding in another attack. However, the Japanese wouldn't give up. The Japanese continued to fight the combined forces of the U.S and the rest of the Allied forces for another 3 years until one day on August 6, 1945, when the U.S dropped the world's first atomic bombs n Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. Then on August 15, 1945, the Japanese government agreed to sign the Potsdam Declaration, and on September 2, 1945, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan’s surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. With the Germans already surrendering to the Allied forces on May 8th, 1945 the U.S could rejoice for the war was over. The lands that had once been conquered by the Germans and Japanese were split evenly among their allies. The U.S could now try to recover from its loss of an estimated 416,800 military men and another 17,000 civilians and as said by General Douglas Mcarthur “ Old soldiers never die they just fade away ”.
Pearl Harbor was the day when the Japanese made the fatal mistake of waking the sleeping giant that is the U.S. The battle of midway turned the tide in the battle for the Pacific. This battle was the start of the long road to victory for the allied forces against the Japanese and Garman forces. After the battle of midway the U.S and allied forces would continue to fight the Japanese and Garman forces for a total of 5 years until the U.S made the decision to drop the world's first atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan.
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