“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” (FDR). President Roosevelt delivered his Infamy Speech the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked. This surprise attack hit the harbor and its surrounding areas on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. The island was bombed by a contingent of more than 350 Japanese planes and midget submarines (Zimm 152). This was a premeditated military based attack, with Japan’s hope of preventing U.S. naval interference while they conquered southeast Asia and surrounding islands in the 1940’s. The effects of the Pearl Harbor attack were immediately felt, with thousands of American lives,
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The plane had been shot by a group of American planes that managed to get airborne during the attack. The Japanese Navy thought the island of Nihau was uninhabited and chose it as an emergency landing space for pilots. The pilots were told to land and wait for a Japanese submarine to pick them up (Frank). The Japanese made an error in surveillance, as the island was inhabited by approximately 182 Hawaiians. Three adults of Japanese descent also lived there. Sixty-year-old Ishimatsu Shintani, a Japanese immigrant to the United States, who had spent most of his life in Hawaii. The other two were Yoshio Harada, 38, and his wife, Irene. The Haradas second-generation individuals of Japanese descent, born in Hawaii. By American law, the Haradas were American citizens; Shintani was an alien (Frank). The locals found out about the Pearl Harbor attack via radio and loosely treated Nishikaichi as a captured prisoner of war. Over the course of the next six days on Nihau, Nishikaichi managed to persuade the Japan descendent Haradas into helping him escape. Nishikaichi and the Harada’s terrorized the Hawaiians, kidnapping and threatening them. During his escape attempt Nishikaichi shot a local Hawaiian, Ben Kanahele, three times. Kanahele survived the gunshots and smashed Nishikaichi’s head against a wall, and fatally wounded him
The plane had been shot by a group of American planes that managed to get airborne during the attack. The Japanese Navy thought the island of Nihau was uninhabited and chose it as an emergency landing space for pilots. The pilots were told to land and wait for a Japanese submarine to pick them up (Frank). The Japanese made an error in surveillance, as the island was inhabited by approximately 182 Hawaiians. Three adults of Japanese descent also lived there. Sixty-year-old Ishimatsu Shintani, a Japanese immigrant to the United States, who had spent most of his life in Hawaii. The other two were Yoshio Harada, 38, and his wife, Irene. The Haradas second-generation individuals of Japanese descent, born in Hawaii. By American law, the Haradas were American citizens; Shintani was an alien (Frank). The locals found out about the Pearl Harbor attack via radio and loosely treated Nishikaichi as a captured prisoner of war. Over the course of the next six days on Nihau, Nishikaichi managed to persuade the Japan descendent Haradas into helping him escape. Nishikaichi and the Harada’s terrorized the Hawaiians, kidnapping and threatening them. During his escape attempt Nishikaichi shot a local Hawaiian, Ben Kanahele, three times. Kanahele survived the gunshots and smashed Nishikaichi’s head against a wall, and fatally wounded him