Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor from the Cockpit
of a Japanese Pilot
Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941
A date which will live in infamy!
President Roosevelt Signs the
US Declaration of War
USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Memorial
2,887 Americans Dead!
Pacific Theater of Operations
Doolittle’s Raid
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid
• April 18, 1942
• First strike on Japanese islands
• Small physical impact, but large boost of
morale for U.S.
Battle of Midway Island:
June 4-6, 1942
Battle of Midway
• Start of “Island Hopping” for U.S. Troops
– Moving quickly from one island to another
Allied Counter-Offensive:
“Island-Hopping”
Map
Battle of Midway
• Turning point in the war!!
• Lasted only 3 days
• Americans broke secret code used by Japan
– Allowed U.S. to intercept Japan’s next moves
• U.S. sunk 5 Japanese ships and shot down 250
planes
Battle of Okinawa
• “Pacific D-Day”: Large amphibious landing of
U.S. troops
• Lasted 82 Days
• Japan had “home-field advantage”
– 180,000 US troops vs. 120,000 Japanese
• 65,000 Americans lost / 100,000 Japanese lost
• Kamikaze pilots used to attack American ships
Japanese Kamikaze Planes:
The Scourge of the South Pacific
Kamikaze Pilots
Suicide Bombers
Battle of Iwo-Jima
• Bombed for 75 days before landing on island
• Fighting lasts for 30 days
• 80,000 US vs 25,000 Japanese
– Only 216 Japanese taken as prisoners
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
6,821 US Deaths at Iwo Jima
US Marines on Mt. Suribachi,
Iwo Jima [Feb. 23, 1945]
Battle of Iwo-Jima
• Flag-raising on Mt. Surabachi represented the
struggles and sacrifice of U.S. troops.
– Morale booster for troops and Americans at home
The Manhattan Project:
Los Alamos, NM
Major General
Lesley R. Groves
Manhattan Project
Dr. Robert
Oppenheimer
“Now I am
become
Death,
the destroyer
of worlds”
Manhattan Project
• 1939 – Secret race to build new type of bomb
before Germany
• Started by FDR, but he died in office
– So secret, Harry S. Truman, the VP did not know
about it
• July 16, 1945: First test in Los Alamos, New
Mexico
• Atomic Bomb designed to prevent loss of
millions of U.S. lives
Tinian Island, 1945
Little Boy
Fat Man
Enola Gay Crew
Col. Paul Tibbets & the A-Bomb
Hiroshima Bombing
•
“Little Boy”
Hiroshima – August 6, 1945
© 70,000 killed
immediately.
© 48,000 buildings.
destroyed.
© 100,000s died of
radiation poisoning &
cancer later.
Nagasaki Bombing
•
“Fat Man”
•
Bockscar
Before
After
Nagasaki – August 9, 1945
© 40,000 killed
immediately.
© 60,000 injured.
© 100,000s died of
radiation poisoning
& cancer later.
The Atomic Shadow
Radiation Sickness
• Atomic Bomb
Hiroshima Memorials
V-J Day (September 2, 1945)
Important Dates
• Aug 14, 1945 – Japan surrenders to U.S. terms
• Aug 15, 1945 – Victory Day
– Still celebrated in RI on second Monday of Aug.
• Above average % (per state) served in Pacific Theater
• September 2, 1945 – Official end to WWII
Japanese Internment Camps