Island of Oahu

At dawn on 7 December 1941, more than half of the United States Pacific Fleet, about 150 vessels and service craft, lay at anchor or alongside piers in Pearl Harbor, and all but one of the fleet’s battleships were in port, most moored beside Ford Island. By 10:00 a.m., the Sunday calm had been shattered as 21 vessels lay sunk or damaged, the fleet’s fighting backbone apparently broken, smoke from burning planes and hangars filled the sky, oil from sinking ships clogged the harbor, and death was widespread. The fleet at Pearl Harbor, the main focus of the Japanese air and naval attack, suffered the greatest loss, with almost half of the total casualties occurring when the USS Arizona exploded. Army, Navy, Army Air Force, and Marine Corps facilities across Oahu, from Kaneohe to Haleiwa to Malakole, also suffered death and destruction. Hickam, Wheeler, and Bellows Army Air Force bases lost 217 men and 77 aircraft; Naval Air Stations at Ford Island and Kaneohe lost 19 men; Pacific Fleet Station lost 4 men and 33 aircraft were destroyed. Civilians from Waikiki to Pearl City were also killed by exploding anti-aircraft munitions from friendly fire. Those who died included military personnel and civilians killed in the attack or later that day in the performance of their duties, and among them were individuals who received the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Pearl City, Hawaii · United States