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Day of infamy by walter lord8/2/2023 ![]() ![]() The anthem had already been played at the start of the concert, but the audience had merely hummed along. Then he called for The Star-Spangled Banner. The concertgoers themselves learned still later when announcer Warren Sweeney told them at the end of the performance. Artur Rodzinski’s musicians were just about to start Shostakovich’s Symphony Number 1 when CBS repeated an earlier bulletin announcing the attack. WOR interrupted with the first flash: the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.Īnother part of America learned half an hour later, while tuning in the New York Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall. Ward Cuff had just returned a Brooklyn kickoff to the 27-yard line when at 2:26 P.M. One part of America learned while listening to the broadcast of the Dodger-Giant football game at the Polo Grounds in New York. Read moreĬHAPTER IV You’d Be Surprised What Goes On Around Here.ĬHAPTER VI Joe, This One Is for the Tourist!ĬHAPTER VII I Didn’t Even Know They Were Sore at UsĬHAPTER VIII I Can’t Keep Throwing Things At ThemĬHAPTER X I Want Three Volunteers: You, You, and YouĬHAPTER XI Chief, My Mother and Dad Gave Me This SwordĬHAPTER XII We’re Leaving Now - Explode Gloriously! I've read eyewitness reports of the attack before and this surprisingly didn't seem to rise to the challenge. I very much appreciated the inclusion of a very detailed map of Ford Island and nearby as well as the path the Japanese navy took.My overall impression was I wanted more from this book. ![]() Since this is apparently how it really was I just found myself shaking my head in disbelief. No one believes an attack is happening - time after time after time. I was also bothered by how the events are presented by the author - quite a bit is virtually like a slapstick comedy. What is shocking and disturbing is the apparent lack of preparedness by the armed services. This was a very different time than the modern day - there was no instant communication. I don't find it so shocking that signals and clues were ignored. This really isn't so much about how the attack was carried about but rather about some of the people on both sides of the event.At the end of the book is a 9 page list of contributors and a detailed index. The small pictures let us see the big picture unfold. It primarily is told via little bits of many, many people's stories from the night before through the day of the event. The story is told very matter-of-factly and recounts events small and large from the beginning of Japan's plans through the attack. ![]() The story recounts events from official records and eyewitness reports and interviews. This was first published in 1957 and I read a 2001 edition published for the 60th Anniversary of the event.This book was reminiscent of the style that Lord used in his book of two years before, "A Night To Remember" (1955) about the sinking of the Titanic. In addition, the narrative stands as a horrifying testimony for what it's like to be the target of such an attack, no matter who you are or where you live. Thereby, he has created a lastingly important document of what was experienced that day. ![]() Lord spends almost no time on the geopolitical context for the attack, nor on the many conspiracy theories that arose later. Time is spent, also, on the frustrating, tragic string of miscommunication and incredulity about early warning signs of trouble.I raced through this book in three or four sittings. This book is akin to Cornelius Ryan's book about D-Day, The Longest Day, which I read earlier this year, in that Lord ran down as many of the survivors/participants/witnesses to the Pearl Harbor attack as he could and created a "you are there" pastiche, from the planning of the attack by the Japanese, to the innocent, unaware early morning spent by so many around the harbor and the town, to the experience and horror of the attack and battle itself, to the aftermath. The author, Walter Lord, also wrote the classic history of the sinking of the Titanic, A Night to Remember. Day of Infamy, published in 1957, provides a minute-by-minute account of the Japanese attach on Pearl Harbor. ![]()
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