On the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 Japanese bombers, fighter planes and torpedo planes attacked the American Naval base at Pearl Harbor. The first wave, consisting of 183 planes, arrived at approximately 7:50 a.m.. They had taken off from aircraft carriers about 200 miles to the northwest, a fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. His Commander in Chief Isoroku Yamamoto was the man who conceived and planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. The most disturbing part of all of this was that Isoroku had studied at Harvard University and had served as a naval Attache' in Washington.

The Japanese goal was to destroy the ships on Battleship Row and the airplanes on the ground at the Naval Air Station and Wheeler Field and Hickman Field nearby. Because it was Sunday morning most of the 780 antiaircraft guns were not manned. Many military personnel were on shore for the weekend, while hundreds of others were still asleep on their ships. Radar at Pearl Harbor had picked up the incoming aircraft, but they were ignored: The officers on duty believed they were a fleet of American B-17s arriving from the West coast.

A second wave of 168 Japanese aircraft descended an hour after the first, to inflict maximum damage. By the time the attack was over several battleships had been destroyed or severely damaged. Among the damaged were the Arizona, the Utah, and the Oklahoma, these ships never saw service again. The Nevada, the California, and the West Virginia were repaired and sent back to sea. Many other ships were destroyed or damaged, and 347 aircraft were demolished. More than 2,300 American military personnel were killed, including the 1,177 forever entombed in the Arizona. Another 1,100 were wounded.

This sneak attack brought the United States into World War II. The following day, December 8 the president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressed congress and the American people, Calling December 7, "A date which will live in infamy." Congress declared war on Japan, and that date has never been forgotten.

Today the harbor is the site of one of the most moving and dramatic tourist attractions in the Unites States. The USS Arizona Memorial, a structure resembling a covered bridge was built crosswise over the hull of the ship. A memorial houses a museum with relics from the ship and a room in which there are inscribed on the walls the names of the 1,177 men who died on the ship along with those who died aboard the Utah. Pearl Harbor became a national historic landmark in 1965.