The attack began the morning of December 7, 1941 and was carried out by 353 Japanese
fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft
carriers. Four U.S. Navy battleships out of the eight attacked were sunk, along with three
cruisers, three destroyers, and an anti-aircraft training ship. 188 U.S. aircraft were
destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. 2
The attack on Pearl Harbor deeply impacted Americans throughout the country as well
as the United States decision to enter WWII. As shown by the stories told by Syracusans
in documents 11.8a.3a-e, the attack on Pearl Harbor affected everyone in different ways.
However, each story relays feelings of fear and sadness as well as an aversion to the
violence of war stemming from their own experience of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1
Edwin Palmer Hoyt, Pearl Harbor Attack, (Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2008), 14.
2
Jennifer Rosenberg, Pearl Harbor Facts, About Education, http://history1900s.about.com/od/Pearl-Harbor/a/Pearl-Harbor-
Facts.htm.