The 80th Anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor

My 19 year-old father had just emerged with a date from the State Theater in Easton, Pennsylvania when he saw, and heard, a newsboy crying, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor!” My dad never could remember the film he’d seen, but he never forgot how his life changed after December 7, 1941

That day, which President Roosevelt said would “live in infamy,” saw the destruction of the U.S. Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, a day in which more than 2,000 American servicemen lost their lives, and over 1,000 were wounded. Across the next four years, close to half a million Americans lost their lives fighting against Germany, Japan, and Italy. Very few of the men who survived the Pearl Harbor attack are still with us.

To hear the story of that fateful day, and the astonishing life of the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor, listen to my podcast, “Inspiration from American History with Rebecca Price Janney” at Anchor.fm/rebeccapricejanney.