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The Pearl Harbor Attack
Welch and I (Taylor) were enjoying our morning breakfast of cornflakes, tea and bacon as we were contemplating a cold morning swim. The previous night had been quite eventful with a dance at the officer’s club at Wheeler Field and an all-night poker game. The day was beautiful and quiet, and nothing was going on apart from the birds flying under the rays of the bright yellow sunshine. Children were playing in the field next to the dining hall, and some soldiers were enjoying their sunbath on their verandahs. Navy ships safely floated in docks on the east and west sides of Ford Island as well as the south end of Pearl City Peninsula. My good friend Gerald was finishing his breakfast aboard the Navy cruiser USS Raleigh docked at the Harbor. Everything was normal and calm until suddenly, “bang, bang, bang.” Somebody asks, “is it the Chinese New Year”, and another one says, “No, it must be a drill by navy fliers that is going on and they might have made a terrible mistake.” But then, a bullet broke through the dining hall’s glass window, and another flew past Welch and knocked my teacup off the table. There must be something that was completely wrong, I quickly turned on the radio beside me, and Webley Edwards of KGMB station was saying, “all service personnel, return to your base.” At that time, bullets were bouncing all around us and hitting the bulkhead. It was alarming to hear low-flying planes, explosions and machine-gun fire right above the building. Peeping through the hole in the wall and having a closer look at the aircraft, rising sun emblems on the side of the planes showed that they were Japanese. In a few minutes, they had destroyed two-thirds of the planes at the main base of Hickham and Wheeler Fields. The badly damaged aircraft could not fly. The Grand Japanese Navy had discreetly staged a surprise attack on the marine base at Pearl Harbor (Hawaii, Oahu’s island). The National WWII Museum (par 9) confirm that the Japanese Forces intended to massively cause destruction and harm on the United States Pacific Convoy as much as possible. America had plans of influencing the War Japan was planning to start against Britain, Netherlands, and American territories in south-eastern Asia on the same day, which did not amuse the Japanese. American and Japanese diplomats were holding discussions on war efforts amidst the bombing preparations which made it possible for Japan to launch the sneaky attack. It only took five minutes for the Japanese to hit four battleships, including the USS Arizona and the USS Oklahoma. Looking back, there were already growing tensions between Japan and the United States that made War inevitable. The United States had cut off all its economic relations with Japan by mid-1941 and was instead supporting China materially and financially. According to Reyes (p1), the Japanese believed that they would easily conquer all of Southeast Asia by neutralizing the American Pacific fleet. Japan had magnificent expansion ambitions to China since they hoped to solve some statistical and economic problems as well as take over the Chinese import market. America was firmly against Japan’s declaration of War on China, and they showed their opposition by imposing trade restrictions and economic sanctions on Japan. To make matters worse, America froze Japanese assets in the United States (Reyes p9). The thorn that pricked Japan’s side and made it to attack the Harbor was the oil restraint America, Britain, and the Netherlands collaboratively organized.
Japan imported most of its oil, and without oil, the military functions crippled, and all their war efforts could come to an end. Washington and Tokyo had established negotiations to either lift the restrictions or find a compromise, but they did not find resolutions for months. Since War between Japan and America was unavoidable, the only chance that Japan had was to quickly and surprisingly attack and destroy America’s merchant navy. They also wanted to move into the East Indies and Malaya that were occupied by the Dutch to conquer rich natural resources like oil and rubber that could provide essential supplies (Reyes, p3). They launched simultaneous attacks on the Dutch East Indies and Malaya while America was still recovering from the damages caused by the Pearl Harbor attack. Ultimately, Japan hoped that by America accepting defeat, they would create a stronghold across the whole Pacific Perimeter. Besides, Japan staged the attack because they felt threatened by President Roosevelt’s decision to move the US Pacific Fleet from California to Hawaii since they had plans of expanding into the Pacific. We had to take action very fast; otherwise, everyone was going to die. Without orders, I called Haleiwa and commanded the ground crew to prepare their Curtiss P-40 Tomahawks for takeoff. Welch, on the other hand, ran to get my new Buick. We were still wearing our tuxedos, but that did not matter, we drove very fast to the airstrip and quickly jumped into the P-40s, which had been fueled but not fully armed. Immediately after takeoff, the Japanese started firing at us. It was the two of us against hundreds of Japanese fighter jets. The Japanese attacking aircraft consisted of torpedo planes, bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters that totalled to 353. The first group had run out of ammunition and returned to Wheeler to reload. While they were still reloading, the second wave of Japanese raiders flew in, and senior officers ordered the pilots to stay on the ground (O’Gan, par 5). We had also landed to reload ammunition, but Welch and I took off again, amid a swarm of enemy planes. Although having disconnected machine guns, I managed to fire 30-calibre guns, destroying two Japanese planes on the first manoeuvre. In the second, I shot down two more enemy aircraft. Unluckily, a bullet pierced the canopy of Welch’s plane and hit his arm, but despite this, he shot down two Japanese planes. Looking down at areas surrounding the Harbor, residents were running around aimlessly, not knowing what to do. Others ran to hide in caves while others jumped into boats to Ford Island. I saw sunken navy ships burning furiously on both sides of the island. On the east side, the navy yard was up in flames. Someone had to send out a command since the commander was seriously injured. I had to command the troupes. Before sending the command, I heard a Japanese Commander call saying, “Tora, Tora, Tora, Tora,” little did I know that it was a coded command Cadbury (par 9). Concentration and focus were paramount. I then called out to my troupes, come in sky attackers, come in sky attackers. Launch firebombs immediately, destroy the Japanese planes.” Meanwhile, brave workers in the navy yard were bravely cutting holes in the bottom of the sunken rolled over ships to save trapped sailors. “Calling on all-sky attackers to surround the Japanese.” Just as I was finishing the command, a big flying saucer appeared from nowhere and started shooting red balls of fire at both sides. Now the Japanese and the Americans had to defend themselves. I had to inquire, ” Come in, Welch, come in Welch, which country does the saucer belong to?” Welch answered, “Taylor, I do not know because it does not have a distinctive flag or symbol.” Furious and massive gunshots engulfed the already smoky sky (Cadbury, par9). Taking a closer look at the occupants in the saucer shocked the living being in me. Aliens adorned in green clothing were attacking both the American navy and the Japanese military. Had they been sent by a spiritual being to stop the fierce attack, or were the bombs and gunshots disturbing their peace in outer space? Something or someone had to stop the battle that had gone on for one hour and fifteen minutes. The aliens then stuck out a white flag that meant that both sides should make a ceasefire. The last attacking Japanese plane flew down to the rooftop of the submarine base, across the shipyard, climbed steeply over the hospital, and quickly flew away. The last plane that we had shot down belonged to the Japanese, and the courageous workers dragged it up a ramp. The aliens had restored calm on the island. Observing from the sky, there was massive damage, rows of dead sailors, soldiers and civilians lay on the ground, and injured people were nursing their wounds while crying in pain. According to White (p5), nearly twenty American ships and more than three hundred airplanes were destroyed in the surprise attack. Missiles destroyed the dry docks and airfields, while thousands of soldiers, sailors and civilians died and one thousand people wounded. The Japanese thought that they had destroyed and crippled the American navy, but they were wrong. They had woken up a sleeping giant. The navy rebound; refloated and repaired most of the damaged battleships which they used in the second world War as well as battles across the Pacific (White, p7). By the end of the second world war, America had built the largest fighting force in its history. Its military base structure crossed around the world while it occupied Japan and Germany (White, p10). America’s victory ushered in President Truman, who oversaw America’s overseas commitments expansion. Containment of communism became America’s main foreign policy principle, and what began as an attempted defeat of oppression after the pearl harbor attack, transformed into a global resistance to communism and maintain a free world. Besides, there was domestic unity, whereby the most significant isolationist groups embraced every person in America. Apart from driving the United States into the second world war, the attack at Pearl Harbor signalled a series of transforming events that would make America a world superpower and command international protection of various countries (White p1). December 7, 1941, is a day for veterans and survivors to remember, a day that aliens brought restored calm at the Harbor following an attack by the Japanese.
Works Cited
Cadbury, Matthew. “Pearl Harbor: Intelligence, psychology and command failure” Journal of Intelligence and Terrorism Studies 2017. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312407198_Pearl_Harbor_Intelligence_psychology_and_command_failure
O’Gan, Patri. “Eyewitness to a “Day of Infamy”: Commemorating Pearl Harbor” 2016. https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/eyewitness-pearl-harbor
Reyes, Blanca. “Waking the Sleeping Giant at Pearl Harbor: A Case for Intelligence and Operations Fusion.” 2013. https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=756412
The National WWII Museum. “The Path to Pearl Harbor”(n.d). http://store.nationalww2museum.org/
White, Geoffrey. “Pearl Harbor and September 11: War Memory and American Patriotism in the 9-11 Era.” The Asia Pacific Journal 2003. https://apjjf.org/-Geoffrey-M–White/1853/article.pdf