Day of Infamy Paragraph
The "Day of Infamy", was the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Walter Lord traces the human drama of the great attack, the spies behind it, the Japanese pilots, the crews on the stricken warships, the men at the airfields and the bases, the Japanese pilot who captured an island single handedly when he could not get back to his carrier, the generals, the sailors, the housewives, and the children who responded to the attack with anger, numbness, and magnificent courage. Lord traveled over fourteen thousand miles and spoke or corresponded with over five hundred individuals on both sides who were there, creating the best account we have of one of the epic events in American history.
Pearl Harbor Paragraph
President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The bombing killed more than 2,300 Americans. It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S. Arizona and capsized the U.S.S. Oklahoma. The attack sank or beached a total of twelve ships and damaged nine others. 160 aircraft were destroyed and 150 others damaged. The attack took the country by surprise, especially the ill-prepared Pearl Harbor base.