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December 7, 1941.
As the day that would live in infamy dawned, many of the servicemen stationed at Pearl Harbor were attending morning services.Within hours, the survivors would be praying for revenge.
The Japanese attack on the US Pacific Fleet had been many years in coming, dating back to hostilities between the nations in the 1800s.The ferocity and total surprise of the attack left the United States in a state of war but a much-lessened state of readiness.
The waves of Japanese fighter planes left behind them 2,403 people dead and 1,178 wounded.They also left a legacy of hatred that would define the Pacific war and relations between the US and Japan for many years to come.
The three episodes contained in this program will take you through the build-up of Japanese American hostilities leading up to that fateful day in December.Although war had seemed inevitable for almost a hundred years, the attack itself came as a complete surprise.
You will see the violence and horror through the eyes of the men who were there - the very men who fought to save their comrades from fiery deaths and watery graves; the men who became heroes.
Finally, learn how the repercussions of the Pearl Harbor disaster would affect the balance of power in the World War for many months to come.The devastating effectiveness of the Japanese attack shocked the world and it would be a long time before the United States would be able to counteract its effects.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his Declaration of War on Japan, claimed that this day would live in infamy.
It has.
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