On this day in 1941 the United States was brought fully into World War II when the Imperial Japanese Navy conducted a successful air and sea attack on the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawai'i. This event is marked by the memorial at Pearl Harbor that is named for the sunk and destroyed American battleship USS Arizona.
Numerous other American battleships were sunk on that day, but not destroyed. Instead, they were raised from the bottom of the harbor, repaired, returned to service and made great contributions during the following years.
Over three and a half years later, the conflict ended with a ceremony aboard the USS Missouri at anchor in Tokyo Bay. The now-inactive Missouri lives on as a museum located also at Pearl Harbor, and adjacent to the Arizona Memorial.
History gets a bum rap from a lot of people--not including you, of course--because it's thought of as boring and irrelevant. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes it helps to see history in pictures. Share these pictures with any you know--especially among the younger portion of America's population--who might gain an improved historical appreciation through visual aids.
By the way, Pearl Harbor draws the crowds. During a recent middle-of-the-week, non-holiday, non-prime vacation time visit there, the wait for the tour of the Arizona Memorial was about two and one-half hours.
It was worth the wait.
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