Embrace the Past...
While World War II is raging across the sea, calmness engulfs the United States of America. It is the year 1941, December 6 to be exact and it is Saturday. This day appears to be not much different than any preceding Saturday evening. In fact, it is an ordinary night for the thousands of sailors and soldiers stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Pearl Harbor is the naval base of the United States Pacific fleet located on Oahu, an island offering its inhabitants bountiful pleasures wrapped in impeccable beauty.
During off-duty hours, sailors and soldiers pose with local girls on the beach and at night, the atmosphere is astir, not from raging war, but from excitement as the sailors and soldiers frequent clubs and party. Some stay on Oahu while others leave for Honolulu. Still others are spending time with families in the serenity of their own homes.
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| Photo courtesy of NPS Photo Archives at Valor
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At Hickam airfield, an charity dance is taking place. Just outside the building where the dance is located hundreds of American fighter planes are mere shadows in the darkness as they stretch across the field row after row. Reflections of thousands of ships' lights from the nearby harbor dance across the water in the moonlight.
The air is still...there is a calmness about it all. Midnight comes and goes...a new day is dawning. The early morning hours of December 7 does not find officers, sailors, or soldiers stationed at Pearl Harbor on any type of extra special alert...
What happened next becomes a decisive pivotal point in history shifting the tides of the war. Return tomorrow for the rest of the story!
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