Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Day Always Remembered

On December 7, 1941, the world would see something like no other. As all eight US Navy battleships were hit by Japanese bombers and torpedo planes, chaos from all over the world would erupt. The peace treaty between the US and Japan was over and the surprise attack led America into World War II.

This would not only change the history for America, but it would change the outcome of the war for everyone everywhere. Just before this photograph was taken, all of America was asleep. No one would be dreaming of this disaster. As the alarm bell sounded just before 8 am in the barracks of the US naval base stationed at Pearl Harbor, service men woke to see their ships on fire and planes flying over them, a devastating sight that would live deeply in the hearts of all Americans forever. Ships and submarines went up in smoke, killing thousands of crewmen, shredding the hearts of people all over America. This pictures shows just one angle of the attack. While this photo can educate people of the devastation experienced at Pearl Harbor that day, it will never be able to encompass how much pain and demolition there was and how it affected the lives of so many around the world. Just to think about how when this picture was being taken, more and more people were dying, being trapped under water or burned to death. I chose Pearl Harbor, because not only am I interested in US war history, but I got to visit this very site and stand exactly where my Granddaddy had been stationed just two weeks before the attack. This photograph is just another memory in our lives, but the real truth lies just beyond this picture 71 years ago. This attack will always remain a significant moment in history, changing the lives of so many and changing the course of history.

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