Sunday Morning

December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor began routinely as sailors and marines turned out for church services, morning colors, and chow, looking forward to off-duty time for recreation, letter-writing, or sleep on a Sunday in the peacetime Navy. Although the Navy was preparing for war at sea, it was not prepared for a massive air attack. Unknown to the Americans, more than 350 Japanese planes were approaching from aircraft carriers north of the island while Japanese midget submarines probed harbor defenses. At 7:55 a.m., the first wave of enemy planes appeared overhead just as American sailors and marines assembled on the vessels to raise the Stars and Stripes. Below decks aboard USS Arizona, compartments shown in pre-war photographs became tombs when the battleship exploded and sank there. On USS Nevada, sailors had been carrying out the morning sweep-down, while others in port enjoyed extra time in their bunks, and some were still sleeping when the first bombs exploded; the seven Patten brothers aboard USS Nevada about September 1941 all survived the attack.

Pearl City, Hawaii · United States