Wai Momi: The Appropriate Bombing Of Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor (or “Wai Momi” as it was referred to by the Hawaiians) was a naval base and the headquarter of the United States’ Pacific Fleet. Pearl Harbor was set in Oahu, Hawaii. On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese surprise attacked Pearl Harbor. The attacked lasted around 2 hours and about 2,000 Americans died while approximately another 1,000 were wounded. Only 55 Japanese soldiers died. The attack was set at an early time because the Japanese were hoping to catch the American soldiers sleeping. 12 American ships were destroyed and 9 of them were damaged. 160 air crafts were destroyed while another 150 were damaged. Around half of the casualties during the Pearl Harbor bombing were because of the USS Arizona, an American battleship. The …show more content…
“The Pursuit Officer on duty was Lieutenant Kermit Tyler, an army air forces pilot. It was his second day on the job and he thought that the planes spotted on radar were US Army air force B-17 heavy bombers on their way to Hickam Field from California. He made the famous statement, “Don’t worry about it”. It was a fatal mistake.” Following that aircraft were 199 others (200 dive bombers overall). Something lesser known about the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor is that submarines were sent to attack Pearl harbor too, but this is lesser known because the underwater attack was much less successful than the aerial attack. This attack did not only weaken the fleet of ships, but it also weakened the force of the United States Air Force. The Japanese also faced some consequences. As revenge for this terrible act, the United States decided to drop a nuclear bomb on 2 of Japan’s cities, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. This, of course, was larger scale than the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Around 90,000–146,000 people died in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Today, fuel continues to leak from the USS Arizona into the ocean. A memorial funded by the famous singer Elvis Presley was built on the site of the USS