negotiators in Washington at 7 33 a m It ordered Japanese negotiators to break off talks with the United States Thinking this might mean war General George C Marshall the army chief of staff sent a message to Lieutenant General Walter C Short commander of US Army forces in Hawaii to warn of the impending conflict However conditions in the atmosphere were poor for radio signals and the message did not get through In the Air At 7 40 a m as the Japanese airplanes approached Pearl Harbor the clouds broke and Fuchida saw the white sand coastline of Oahu He sent out the order to attack to to to Then he sent a second message ra ra ra This message interpreted by some as tora tora tora told the Japanese carrier that the stealth attack was successful The Americans had no idea the Japanese were coming At 7 55 a m Japanese aircraft struck the first US airstrip The aircraft there were parked close together to make it easier to protect them against sabotage But this only made them an easier target from the air No one had expected an aerial attack 10
A photograph taken from a Japanese plane amid the torpedo attack shows Japanese planes circled ready to bomb the Navy Yard over Ford Island Torpedoes and B-17s At 7 55 a m Lieutenant Commander Logan C Ramsey looked out the window from inside the Ford Command Center He spotted a low-flying airplane and assumed it was a careless US pilot He looked more closely to see if he could identify the airplane so he could report the pilot As he looked up Ramsey saw a long black object fall from the airplane a torpedo He immediately sent out a message to warn the fleet AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT DRILL 8 Around this time the expected B-17 Flying Fortress Bombers arrived at Oahu To save weight on the long flight from the West Coast to Pearl Harbor the aircraft were not armed The pilots had expected only a stop in Oahu for refueling before continuing to the Philippines 11
Unable to defend themselves or fight to defend Pearl Harbor the B-17 pilots dodged Japanese aircraft Corporal E C Nightingale’s Account Marine Corporal E C Nightingale was on the USS Arizona as it was attacked He later shared his story explaining that during the attack he suddenly found himself in the water swimming for his life Approximately halfway to a pipeline his strength gave out There were other men in the water and Major Alan Shapley seeing Nightingale about to go under grabbed his shirt and told him to hold on Approximately 25 feet 7 6 m from the pipeline Shapley began to struggle to keep them afloat Nightingale let go and told Shapley to save himself Shapley refused and he managed to get them both to shore Shapley became the first US marine to receive the navy’s Silver Star Medal for his heroism On the USS Arizona The USS Arizona and six other battleships were moored in Battleship Row a shallow harbor between Oahu and the smaller Ford Island Just after 8 00 a m several men on the USS Arizona heard a strange buzz in the distance They spotted airplanes in the sky but most assumed it was a practice run from Hickam Field the US Army air base at Pearl Harbor Moments later the first bombs dropped Black smoke billowed above the airfield That is the best g drill the army air force has ever put on remarked one sailor thinking the airplanes were dropping some kind of powder to simulate an attack 9 It immediately became apparent it was not a simulation 12
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