Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941 - The only color film of the attack

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Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941 - The only color film of the attack

Post by jfko6 » Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:31 am

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor,9] the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning, was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.



Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers.[15] All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but the USS Arizona (BB-39) were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship,[nb 4] and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. - Source: Wikipedia

Aloysius Schmitt

On December 7, 1941, Fr. Schmitt was serving on board the battleship USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, when a hit caused the ship to capsize. A number of sailors, including Fr. Schmitt, were trapped in a compartment with only a small porthole as the means of escape. Fr. Schmitt helped a number of men through this porthole. When it came his time to leave, he declined and helped more men escape. In total, he helped 12 men escape.

Fr. Schmitt died on board the Oklahoma, and was the first chaplain of any faith to have died in World War II. Most of the bodies were recovered after the ship was righted in 1943. His remains were originally buried in a cemetery in Hawaii as an "Unknown." In 2015 the United States Department of Defense exhumed the remains of what were believed to be 388 military personnel. Schmitt's remains were identified in 2016 from DNA taken from his skull and matched with that of a relative. They were returned to Iowa where a Memorial Mass was celebrated in his home parish of St. Luke in St. Lucas on October 5, 2016. His remains were transferred to Dubuque where a funeral Mass and burial were held in Christ the King Chapel at Loras College on October 8.

Father Aloysius H. Schmitt (December 4, 1909 – December 7, 1941) was a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, who served as a chaplain in the United States Navy at the beginning of World War II. - Wikiepdia

FOX News

DUBUQUE, Iowa – The remains of a Navy chaplain have been buried in his home state of Iowa nearly 75 years after he died during the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

A funeral was held for Chaplain Aloysius Schmitt in Dubuque on Saturday. Separate ceremonies were held in his hometown of St. Lucas earlier in the week.

Schmitt's niece, Rose Foley, told the Telegraph Herald she is very proud of her uncle and what he did...

...The Navy announced in September that Schmitt's remains had been identified.

Author Joe Todd, who wrote a book about the USS Oklahoma, remembered hearing about Schmitt when he talked to dozens of surviving crew members.

"When I asked crew members about Schmitt, they all said, 'He was the finest man I ever met,'" Todd said.

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Chaplain Schmitt
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