Donald Stratton's Attack On Pearl Harbor

Source 1: During World War Two, America wanted nothing more than to stay neutral. But as fate would have it, something happened that would force America’s hand to join the allies in the war. On what has been known as a “Day of Infamy”, December 7, 1941, the Japanese empire launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was a U.S Navy base located on the island of O’ahu in Hawaii. Although America was neutral in the war, they were still manufacturing and supplying Great Britain to aid them during the war. In addition, America attempted to stop Japan from their military conquests in Asia and the Pacific. Pearl Harbor was the trigger factor that ended all debate of the question that America should remain neutral. The end result would be
Stratton was one of the five seamen who survived. However, he was not able to come out unharmed. He suffered burns that covered 65 percent of his body. He escaped with a few of his fellow gunnery team by climbing across a 70- foot long rope that stretched 45 feet above flames fueled by oil that sat upon the water. When he found out that 1,177 of his fellow seamen were not as lucky as him, he was emotionally torn. After recovering from the injuries he suffered that day, he went on to fight more battles in the Pacific to help win the
Their commander, Vice Admiral Nagumo had his attack force in position 275 miles North of Hawaii on the morning of December, 7, 1941. His commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, led the first wave of aerial attack. At 6:00 AM, the attack force was already up in the air and on their way to Pearl Harbor. The Japanese pilots saw eight battleships, but, they were discouraged that they were unable to find any of the aircraft carriers. Japanese Lieutenant Commander Murata’s Torpedo bombers were launching their torpedoes, while, Lieutenant Commander Itaya’s fighters were engaging the U.S. resistance in the sky. Another Japanese Commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, led his bombers to Barber’s Point. However, when their was no U.S resistance , the Japanese realized their surprise attack was successful. The attack began with the first bomb falling on Wheeler Field, and the bombs that proceeded after were on Hickam Field and bases at Ford Island. Smoke from the bombings was making vision difficult As a result, Murata dropped the torpedos short of battleships that were anchored east of Ford