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Pearl Harbor
At 7:55 Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber appeard out of trhe clouds. A number of 360 warplanes follwed descending in a ferocious assault. A total of 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 were wounded, five of eight battleships, three destroyers, and seven other ships were destroyed. Japan lost 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men. -
Executive Order 9066
Ten weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive order 9066. By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps for the next two and a half years. On December 17, 1944, U.S. Major General Henry C. Pratt issued Public Proclamation No. 21, saying Japanese-American "evacuees" would return to their home. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to recompense eacch survivng internee with a check for $20,000. -
Wake Island
On this day, Rear Adm. Shigematsu Sakaibara, commander of Japanese garrison on the island, orders the execution of 96 Americans POWs, saying they were trying to make radio cantact with U.S. forces. -
Battle of Kwajalein Atoll
On February 4, the American troops stormed ashore on Kwajalein Atoll and within weekd leapfrrogged to Eniwetok Atoll. On February 1, teh 7th Infatry Division landed on Kwajalein Island. On Kwajalein, close to 5,000 Japenese defenders were killed and only a handful captured. The 7th Infantry counted 177 soldiers killed and 1,000 wounded. -
Battle of Sapien
During the Pacific Campaign of World War II, U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of the significant Japanese island of Saipan. Americans poured out of their boats to establish a beachhead, battle Japanese soldiers inland and forcing the Japanese army north. Marines gave sites in the area names such as "Death Valley" and "Purple Heart Ridge." On July 9, the U.S. flag was raised in victory over Saipan. -
Leyte Island
The Japanese Imperial Navy sailed from as far away Singapore to enter their final great naval battle. The U.S. naval froces managed to destroy or turn away every Japanese column which cinverged on the American landing zone. By the end of the battle, Lapanese vessels sunk. -
Iwo Jima
U.S. Marines from the 3rd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th regiment of the 5th Division took the crest of Mount Suribachi, to raise the U.S. flag. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, only 200 of the original 22,000 Japanese defenders were captured alive. More than 6,000 Americans died and some 17,000 were wounded. On February 23, the crest of 550-foot Mount Suribachi was taken. By March 3, U.S. forces controlled all three airflieds on the island. -
Enola Gay
On August 6, 1945, Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The blast reduced four square miles killing 80,000 people. Three days later, another bpmb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki killing 40,000 people. A few days later, Japan surrendered. This ended World War II. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On August 6, the United States bombed Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb killed tens of thousands of civilians. Three days later the United States struck again but this time on Nagasaki. This bombing killed anywhere frmo 60,000 people to 80,000 people. -
Douglas MacArthur
MacArthur was the youngest General in teh Army at the time. He composed striking achievments after another. MacArthur became the head of teh Philippen Army after he retired in 1934. He shipped out as he uttered his immortal line, "I shall return." He returned back to the Philippines in October 1944. On MArch 3, 1945, MacArthur handed control of Philippine capital back to its president. His last act of defiance, he would be the man to reform Japanese scoiety.
