It was 7:55 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Suddenly, this grim message blasted out of speakers on the battleship Oklahoma, which was anchored there: “Air Raid Pearl Harbor real planes, real bombs; this is no drill.”
Waves of Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo planes thundered across the island. They sank ships in the harbor and ripped apart planes parked at a nearby air base. It was the most devastating attack on American forces in history. Within a few hours, the Japanese sank or crippled eight battleships, three cruisers, and two destroyers. Americans hadn’t been willing to go to war. Now, they felt they had little choice.