Pearl Harbor

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the “date which will live forever in infamy,” destroyed about 200 American planes in two hours and 150 others were damaged. Eight battleships and three light cruisers were sunk or damaged. Two thousand four hundred Americans were killed with 1,200 Americans wounded. Fortunately, no American aircraft carriers were in harbor that day, allowing them to serve as the backbone of the Pacific naval operations against Japan. Three days after Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

“Cowards over Pearl Harbor, written by Fred Rose (1941), performed by Denver Darling (http://www.authentichistory.com/1939-1945/3-music/04-PH-Reaction/19420222_Cowards_Over_Pearl_Harbor-Denver_Darling.html), is a jingoistic, patriotic reaction to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, written two weeks after December 7, 1941. The song defiantly shows how America will win and overcome the evil of Japan.

Pearl Harbor was calm one bright Sabbath morning
But trouble and strife were lying in wait
Then out of the sky came hawks of destruction
Piloted by disciples of hate

When bombs filed the air with all of their fury
A story of shame was being unfurled
A coward’s desire fell down on Pearl Harbor
Spreading the war all over the world

Oh, someday they’ll pay for all of their evil
When all of their schemes are proven in vain
We’ll never forget that day in Pearl Harbor
And they’ll regret time and again

Oh, what will they say to all of their children?
And how can they look themselves in the face?
Oh what will they do that great judgment morning?
They must go down in mortal disgrace

“Pearl Harbor Blues” written and sung by Doctor Peter Clayton (1941) reflects the anger over the Pearl Harbor in xenophobic terms. (https://youtu.be/q9Sx6sUehFY)

December the seventh, nineteen hundred and forty one
On December the seventh, nineteen hundred and forty one
The Japanese flew over Pearl Harbor, dropping bombs by the ton

This Japanese is so ungrateful, just like a stray dog on the street
Yes the Japanese is ungrateful, just like a stray dog on the street
Well he bite the hand that feeds `em, soon as he get enough to feed

Some say the Japanese is hard fighters, but any dummy ought to know
Some say the Japanese is hard fighters, but any dummy ought to know
Even a rattlesnake won`t bite you in your back, he will warn you before he strikes his blow

I turned on my radio and I heard mister Roosevelt say
I turned on my radio and I heard mister Roosevelt say
We wanted to stay out of Europe and Asia, but now we all got a debt to pay

We even sold the Japanese brass and scrap iron, and it makes my blood boil in the vein
We sold the Japanese brass and scrap iron, and it makes my blood boil in the vein
Cause they made bombs and shells out of it, and they dropped it on Pearl Harbor just like rain.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan achieved a long series of military successes. At the same time as the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan struck other U.S. bases in the Pacific. Japanese planes surprised the American forces in the Philippines, which were commanded by General Douglas MacArthur. The American air detachment was destroyed. (TFC, vol. 5, p. 70.) In December 1941, Guam and Wake Island fell to the Japanese, followed in the first half of 1942 by the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Burma. Thailand remained officially neutral. Only in mid-1942 were Australian and New Zealander forces in New Guinea and British forces in India able to halt the Japanese advance. (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005155.)