Jack Beattie

Language Arts 8
8 April, 2014
Mapel

Looking Deeper into Pearl Harbor

On December 7th, 1941, Hawaii seemed as normal and yet as stunningly
beautiful as ever. A delightful amount of sunshine was gleaming from a slightly
clouded sky. Ships were rocking back and forth peacefully on the harbor, and people
were living their normal lives they had come to love in this Hawaiian paradise. Little
did anyone know this beautiful island was about to transform into a tragic, gory
battleground within a matter of minutes.
However, before the tragic bombings of Pearl Harbor, before World War II,
before the Americans dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan, the Japanese had a
conflict. You see, this bombing wasnt a simple terrorist attack. Many view the
attack as an attempt to take lives from people and military soldiers, but it was far
from that. The main purpose behind the bombing was actually intended to serve as
a prevention act. The Japanese were hard at work planning military actions with
Southeast Asia, Netherlands, Great Britain, and, obviously, the United States.
Despite all the lives lost in the attack, the main objective of the Japanese was to
take out army vehicles and supplies which could have threatened the Japanese later

on with the military actions they had been planning. With this in mind, the attack on
Pearl Harbor was launched.
At 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian time, a vulgar explosion shook Pearl Harbor like a
massive and sudden earthquake. Everyone in the area held their breath, hearts
pounding, as their whole bodies shook in fear. And that was when the terror started.
353 vehicles, consisting of massively destructive submarines and bomber planes,
attacked the harbor with devastating force. The onslaught consisted of two waves,
the first and last both causing massive damage among the armys supplies. But the
worst part about this was that there was almost no way of defending for the United
States. This attack came as a completely profound shock, and there was no way the
U.S. couldve prepared for the things that happened that day. With their
vulnerability as high as a porcupine lying on its back, America losses were colossal.
Every single battleship the United States owned was damaged, with four being sunk
below the harbor. Seven of the eight were later brought up for combat, but many of
their uses were inadequate. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers,
three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. Along with all the
supplies and storages that were lost, the destruction was massive.
At the end of the crisis, 2,402 people were killed with 1,282 badly wounded.
People were walking around and crying devastatingly. Some important storages and
power stations were not destroyed, but the explosions had otherwise left a wake
almost as if a magnitude ten earthquake had passed through. The Japanese came
out with almost no loss: the only minor costs to the incident had been 29 planes, 5
minute submarines, and 65 men with one being captured. However, as with every
other tragedy, the bombing wasnt the end.

The attack was judged to be a Japanese war crime, because war was not yet
declared, but that title did not last for long. The United States declared war on
Japan, becoming part of what was later named World War II. The United States first
ally became Great Britain. However, many Americans later came to question this
alliance. In fact, some conspiracies actually tell that the high officials in the U.S. and
Great Britain rather let happen or even encouraged the attack with the aim of
bringing the United States into war. Despite the details, this was clearly an awful
tragedy and hopes and everything possible is coming from the United States to
ensure nothing like this will ever happen again.