For many kids,
Hawaii in 1941 seems like another world entirely. But Dec. 7, 1941 is an
important milestone in American history: It’s the day when Japanese forces
attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii.
“To America’s
greatest generation, they were just seeing the end of the tunnel that was the
Great Depression and their focus was only on domestic issues at home,” Tim
Miller, a U.S. history teacher at Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, told TODAY Parents. “This attack unified the calls for American
involvement in World War II and pushed this generation to a war that, in
decades prior, they had hoped to never see again.”
Described by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt as “a date which will live in infamy,” Dec. 7,
1941 is a significant historical marker for children to understand. Here’s how
to explain to kids what happened at Pearl Harbor and why it is so critical to
understanding America’s role in World War II.
1. The United States’
opposition to Japanese expansion led to the attacks.
As the Japanese
empire spread throughout the South Pacific, the U.S. imposed harsh economic
sanctions and trade embargoes on Japan.
“The Japanese
ignored the economic sanctions,” Miller explained. “They knew we would get
involved in the Pacific at one point or another, so they decided to take out as
many of our ships as possible to give them time to finish conquering the South
Pacific before we could rebuild and then challenge their expansion.”
2. The attacks on Pearl Harbor
were planned.
Pearl Harbor was
extensively planned by the Japanese as a preemptive, or preventative, strike on
the U.S. Pacific fleet. Some scholars suggest that Japanese naval officer
Isoroku Yamamoto began playing out war games as early as 1927 to plot a raid
against Pearl Harbor.
“When the U.S.
Navy finally moved their Pacific fleet from the West Coast to Hawaii in May of
1940, by December of the same year, the planning began,” Miller said. “For that
year, the Japanese built makeshift islands to replicate Pearl Harbor so pilots
could practice the attack runs. Many pilots claimed that they could have
successfully performed the attack blindfolded.”
3. The attack consisted of two
parts.
In all, more than
2,400 Americans lost their lives; the Japanese lost 29 planes and more than 100
men. Eight U.S. battleships, three destroyers and many other ships sustained
heavy damage.
“The attack came
in two waves which totaled 353 planes,” Miller said. “These planes attacked
battleships, dry docks where ships are repaired, and air fields to prevent
American counterattack, and any other ship that could inflict damage in a
future war.”
4. The most important targets
were not destroyed in the attack.
The United
States’ aircraft carriers were not in the harbor at the time, and military oil
fields were left untouched. Later in the war, aircraft carriers played a
pivotal role in the war’s outcome, and the oil that was left alone was used to
power the new Pacific fleet that became operational within months after the
attack on Pearl Harbor.
“The Japanese
believed that the battleships were the most powerful symbol of naval dominance,
and to destroy them would hurt American pride and dissuade us from fighting,”
Miller said. “The Japanese knew that the oil fields were important, but did not
attack them as a lot of burning oil meant smoke, which limits visibility for
pilots who need to hit their targets.”
5. Ships were salvaged after
the attacks.
All but one of
the ships were either repaired or reduced to scrap metal to be melted down to
build new ships.
“That one ship is
the USS Arizona, which was left in the harbor to serve as an underwater grave
for more than 900 sailors who could not be recovered, and as a memorial to the
attack,” Miller said. “Any veteran who survived the attack at Pearl Harbor is
allowed, once they die, to have their ashes placed in the ship to be with their
shipmates.”
6. You can visit Pearl Harbor
today.
The Pearl Harbor
National Memorial operates out of Honolulu to guide visitors through the attack
and the memorial of the USS Arizona.
“It is one of the
saddest memorials to visit due to the loss of life, but very important to
remember, because of the country America became during and after the war,”
Miller said.
SOURCE:
Dec. 7, 1941: How to explainthe attack on Pearl Harbor to kids
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