Lest we forget about tomorrow....

Tomorrow, December 7,  is the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Hawaii, with Pearl Harbor Day being designated as a national holiday today.

At 6 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941, from 230 miles north of Oahu, the first wave of a two-wave attack mostly from aircraft carriers was launched by the Japanese consisting of 40 Kate torpedo bombers, 51 Val dive bombers, 50 high-altitude bombers and 43 Zero fighters. They struck the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor and the airfields at Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa, among many other targets.

At 7:15 a.m., the second wave of 167 aircraft continued the attack on the same targets. When it was over, the United States suffered total loss of the Arizona and Oklahoma battleships. The battleship California was sunk at her berth and later raised and repaired, as was the West Virginia. The Nevada was beached to prevent sinking and was later repaired. The Tennessee had light damage. The Utah was so badly damaged, no repairs were done and it was later used as target practice and sunk. Six battleships in total were struck.

Six cruisers, including the Helena, had light damage. Four destroyers were damaged, one mine layer sunk, one sea plane tender severely damaged. One repair ship was severely damaged and one harbor tug sunk. In addition, 92 U.S. Navy aircraft and 93 Army aircraft were destroyed on airfields. No aircraft carriers were in the vicinity to protect Hawaii, so none were damaged. In addition, much petroleum, ammunition and supplies were destroyed.

There were 2,402 Americans who died, including 1,177 on the Arizona, 105 on the California, 429 on the Oklahoma, 58 on the Utah and 106 on the West Virginia battleships.

Your sacrifice will not be forgotten, and you are... our heros!