Eleven-year-old Danny Crane is alone on his favorite beach in Hawaii when the world is torn apart and World War II officially hits the United States. Does he have what it takes to find his way home in the midst of the bombs, the smoke, and the destruction of the day that will live in infamy?
Did You Know...Facts about the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941
- In the attacks on Pearl Harbor, nearly 2,500 people were killed: 2,388 American military personnel; 48 American civilians; and 64 Japanese military personnel.
- American artillery also suffered great losses. Naval forces suffered the total destruction of 164 aircraft; 12 sunk or beached ships; and 9 damaged ships.
- Four months after the Pearl Harbor attack, American leaders decided that approximately 100,000 people of Japanese descent living in certain parts of the U.S., the majority of them American citizens, should be forced to live in special guarded camps far away from American cities, called "internment camps." They were forced to stay there until the end of the war in 1945.Today, the "internment" of loyal Japanese Americans is considered a shameful act in American history. The federal government officially apologized in 1983.
- Pearl Harbor convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress that the United States should enter World War II, which at that time had already been raging in Europe for about 2 years. It would become the bloodiest war in history. Nearly 60 million people died, including more than 400,000 American soldiers.
- Today, Pearl Harbor is still a major military base. It is also a monument and a graveyard, where you can visit the USS Arizona Memorial. This is the final resting place for many of the soldiers and marines who died when the Arizona exploded. The memorial is built over the sunken battleship, which rests in 40 feet of water at the bottom of the harbor.
