What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch Jr

Author:E.D. Hirsch, Jr. [Hirsch, E. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8041-8041-2
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2013-10-23T04:00:00+00:00

A scene after the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor: the small boat is picking up survivors from the burning USS West Virginia.

For the Japanese pilots, the most important targets were the American warships in the harbor. Bombs and torpedoes rained down on the ships, while the crews scrambled to man their antiaircraft guns. One Japanese pilot scored a direct hit on the battleship Arizona. (Battleships were the biggest, most powerful ships in the U.S. Navy.) An American sailor on another ship said, “That big Arizona blew up like a million Fourth of Julys.” In a single horrifying moment, more than a thousand American sailors were blown to pieces.

The attack went on for two hours. The Americans fought back as best they could. But they had been caught unprepared, and the Japanese had planned well. By the time the Japanese pilots flew away, they had sunk or badly damaged nineteen ships and killed more than two thousand Americans.

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor shocked and angered the American people. One day after the attack, President Roosevelt spoke to Congress. With anger in his voice, he proclaimed December 7, 1941, as “a date which will live in infamy.” Then he asked Congress to declare war on Japan. Congress passed the declaration immediately. Days later, Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States. America was once again involved in a world war.

After the Japanese attack, the American people united behind their president. Isolationist feeling disappeared almost overnight. Millions of young men flocked to join the military. “Remember Pearl Harbor!” became a rallying cry.

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