There are few things spectacular as an early Sunday morning on a South Pacific Island.
For the boys serving the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 the sun had a quality like nothing they'd ever seen, big, loose, and orange — but inviting — filling the air with a lurid appeal they just assumed was homesickness.
Not yet 8 a.m. and softball teams were lining up on the beach. Pitchers warmed up their arms, while batting rosters were finalized and the wives and kids came over from seaside church services.
Stealing a moment to take it all in proved a sight impossible to forget and not a man there who lent himself to the idea, didn't think the same thing. It was perfect.
Not unfamiliar with the narcotic effects of a tropical Sunday morning or American habits, the Japanese thought the morning perfect as well and for hours had been barreling the better part of their naval fleet and air forces across the Pacific and toward Pearl Harbor.
There, tied off like a string of pearls, draped gently across the docks and waterfront was the lion's share of America's naval might.
The still dreamy hour of 8 a.m. local time saw the first wave of Japanese forces bear down and devastate everything in sight. Amid the carnage, tragedy and loss that came to define the ensuing hours of that day, two things happened.
First, the United States came together and beat back one of the most evil forces the world had ever seen. The second thing that happened was the country promised itself it would never, ever forget that morning.
To that end we offer these original photographs from Pearl that morning so that you too can help 'never forget'.
Aerial view of Battleship Row in the opening moments of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Japanese Navy Type 99 Carrier Bombers prepare to take off from an aircraft carrier during the morning of 7 December 1941.
Torpedo plane takes off from Shokaku to attack Pearl Harbor.
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