Pearl Harbor: Memories of the Day Heaven Turned to Hell
The visit to Pearl Harbor is one of the obligatory stops if you travel to Hawaii. It is an opportunity and a privilege to go through the scenario that marked a before and after in World War II.
It is a corner full of history that no tourist passing through Hawaii should miss. Near the Honolulu airport, is the Pearl Harbor Naval Air Base (“Pearl Harbor” or, in Hawaiian, “Pu'uloa”), a natural harbor inside a coastal lagoon on the island of Oahu. It is a "walk" required if you visit this famous Pacific island, as it hosts one of the most important chapters of World War II.
Discovering myself there, stepping on the stage that I had seen so many times in movies and read about in books and on the Internet, still moves me. It is a pleasure to share it with the readers to recommend this stop if they visit Hawaii and have the privilege, as I had, of being direct witnesses of the footprints that history left in that place.
Pearl Harbor: the least expected attack
World War II had broken out in 1939 and, although the United States remained neutral, it preemptively moved its Pacific fleet from San Diego to this strategic base to defend its west coast, if necessary. The Naval General Staff estimated that, if hostilities began, Japan would do so in the Philippines and not in Hawaii, so the defense hypotheses pointed to the bases close to that destination.
The Japanese strategy of launching a preemptive surprise attack had already been implemented in the war against the Russians in 1904 and they took as an example the intensive air raid that the British carried out on the Italian fleet in Taranto in 1940.
At 7:48 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the golfers who were taking advantage of the beautiful sunny morning to define the goals on the green of the naval air base, surprisingly saw squadrons of planes appear from the mountains, in low flight, that in a At first they did not identify until they distinguished the red circle under the wings that indicated its belonging to the Imperial Navy of Japan.
Suddenly, the pilots began to drop the torpedoes modified to serve in shallow depths and the bombs on their targets, as they had rehearsed hundreds of times in Kinko Bay, for its resemblance to Pearl Harbor, although they did not know what the scenario would be. of the combat until the day that already embarked they left for Hawaii.
Those in charge of bringing from the sky a message of death and desolation, transforming the quiet naval base and the beautiful city of Honolulu into an apocalyptic landscape were the 353 fighter jets, bombers and torpedo boats that, in two waves, meticulously took care of following the orders of the Japanese admiralty embarked at 370 km in six aircraft carriers with their support fleet and five mini-submarines that partially managed to infiltrate the bay with different luck.
An interesting fact is that a Japanese submarine was detected by a ship at sea and when the alarm was raised, it was not taken as possible and, from a radar still not operating regularly on the island of Oahu, a large number of air echoes were displayed. which, when reported, were dismissed because the arrival of reinforcement aircraft from the aircraft carrier Enterprise was expected.
The prestigious Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, a Harvard alumnus, was well aware of the potential for American warfare and advised against challenging them and having them as enemies in the Pacific. But the General Staff of the Japanese forces convinced Emperor Hiroito of the special moment that Europe was experiencing trying to avoid being invaded by the Germans, estimating that the US, if it entered the war, would do so to support its allies in the old continent, leaving Japan to achieve its expansionist claim to Southeast Asia and access its natural wealth such as oil and rubber.
The plan was to be completed within 20 weeks, and if successful, there would be no US or British air, naval, or ground forces left capable of preventing Japanese dominance over Southeast Asia and the western Pacific.
The architects of the Japanese attack plan advised Vice Admiral Nagumo, commander-in-chief of the attacking fleet, to launch a third air wave to destroy unhit targets such as the fuel and torpedo depots, the submarine base, the power plant, the shipyard and the maintenance workshops, but the latter considered that the damage was sufficient and feared losing aircraft that would be needed later for the next objectives, this mistake cost Japan great losses in lives and means.
The balance of a tragic day
The gloomy balance of this tragic Sunday day yielded these results: 2,403 North Americans died and another 1,178 were wounded, 4 of 8 battleships were sunk, 3 were damaged and 1 ran aground, being the chosen targets since no aircraft carrier was found in port.
Cruisers, destroyers and other ships also suffered devastation, 188 aircraft were destroyed on the runways, since only 8 were able to take flight
The USS Phoenix light cruiser was able to emerge from the black smoke of burning oil and the rain of bombs, leaving hell unscathed for what lived up to the meaning of its mythology; 41 years later, he was sunk by a British nuclear submarine in the Falklands War, and his name in the Argentine Navy was ARA General Belgrano.
What to see in Pearl Harbor
More than 70 years away from these events that document the bloody history of the 20th century, being on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Oahu, a visit to the historic site of Pearl Harbor is a must. There are the naval and aeronautical museums with ships and planes that played a leading role in the world war.
Moored with its imposing steel mass we will see the last battleship of the American fleet, the Missouri, which was launched in 1944, participated in many battles of World War 2, Korea, and in the Persian Gulf war, updated with a missile launcher. This ship was chosen for the unconditional surrender of Japan to be signed on its deck in Tokyo Bay on August 15, 1945 after a short speech by General McArthur.
In front of a monument to the American sailor is the USS Bowfin submarine called the "Avenger" because it was launched on December 7, 1942, the exact year of the anniversary of the attack and outstanding performance against Japanese targets in the Pacific. A room inside is dedicated to the camikazes (“divine wind” in Japanese), a special attack unit whose pilots directed their explosive-laden planes, crashing them into valuable targets such as aircraft carriers or battleships.
Under their portraits, were the handwritten farewell letters to their relatives, a recommendation received by those designated to have the honor of dying for their Emperor and their homeland, (next to it was their English translation).
Before beginning the tour of the base, a documentary about the attack is shown in a microcinema. People follow the images with attention and sorrow. In all the posters it is recommended to keep due respect because Arizona is a military cemetery. The ship's anchor, which weighs 10 tons, was found 300 meters buried in the sand and, now, with its chain, is in a commemorative square.
It is exciting to be in the bay where the most important air-naval battle in history took place, taking measurements of the mooring areas of the ships and the distance traveled by the torpedoes to reach the objectives. You can see the flight tower that was not destroyed and is still preserved, and quickly one can imagine the swarm of fighters, dive bombers and kamikazes crossing each other, trying to take advantage of the surprise and dodge the barrage of naval and ground artillery that were trying to stop this stormy madness.
Boarding a Navy launch, they took us to the USS Arizona Battleship Memorial, which exploded when a bomb pierced the armor and hit the magazine (ammunition depot), causing it to sink rapidly, right there, with most of their crew.
An artistic rectangular monument was built perpendicular to his remains, which are 2.50 m from the surface; the base of a main artillery turret stands out and at low tide you can see the rusty remains and with bright flashes of the mollusks that adopted it as their home, two white balls mark the maximum points of bow and stern.
In the compartment farthest from the entrance is a Carrara marble wall with the names of the 1,177 crewmen who died, many of whom still lie within the ship and on two small walls, are the remains of the survivors who, through the years, chose to be deposited with their companions.
Obviously there are several days that were key in the development and end of the 2nd world war. Without a doubt, December 7, 1941 was one of them; It started like just another day and, at nightfall, on an island in the most isolated archipelago in the world, Oahu, there was a massacre of lives and resources coldly planned by minds thirsty for power and dominance. Due to this cause, the United States declared War on the Empire of Japan the next day, losing its neutrality in the contest. May history serve for none of these horrors to repeat itself.
