Attack on Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, on a Sunday morning, aircraft from the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked the U.S. Army and Naval forces stationed in Hawaii. Most notably the attack centered on the naval ships at Pearl Harbor. Over two thousand soldiers and sailors were killed in the surprise attack and several warships were sunk or damaged.

Speaking to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, President Franklin Roosevelt on December 8 called for a declaration of war upon Japan and famously referred to December 7 as "a date that will live in infamy". With the declaration of war by Nazi Germany on December 11 the United States was finally, reluctantly drawn into a world war.

Semper Fidelis

Today is the Marines Corps Birthday. On November 10, 1775 the Second Continental Congress authorized the raising of two battalions of Continental Marines. Tradition has it that Captain Samuel Nicholas began the first recruiting drive at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia.

The U.S. Marines have fought with distinction in all of the nations wars but in modern times their reputation was cemented by their actions at Belleau Wood in World War One and in the Pacific theatre of World War Two. The bloody actions on Guadalcanal, Tarawa and most famously the fighting and the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima have ingrained the memory of their sacrifice in the minds of the American people. Semper Fi!