Pearl Harbor: 80th Anniversary

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise military strike upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Just before 8 a.m., the base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft as fighters, level, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers descended on the base in two waves. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the United States, and Congress declared war against Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The previously reluctant U.S. entered the Second World War.

Join Dan as he walks through the details of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, explainer style. Later in the episode, Dan welcomes Michael “Mickey” Ganitch, Pearl Harbor survivor to the podcast. Mickey served on the USS Pennsylvania and was on-board when the Japanese attacked, he served the rest of the war on the USS Pennsylvania, including when she was torpedoed just before the Japanese surrender. Now 102-years-old, Mickey continues to share his story.

A special thanks to Mickey and Barbara Ganitch, as well as the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States for the detail that we were able to include in this episode.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody. Welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit. 80 years ago today, on the 7th of December,
0:07.6	1941, the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, the base of the American Pacific Fleet on the
0:14.0	Hawaiian island of Oahu. It's one of the great turning points of modern history. It's
0:20.4	the moment at which the United States was dragged into war against Japan. I've been in
0:25.5	days that would find itself at war with Germany and its allies in Europe as well. This is a heck
0:30.8	of an anniversary, folks, particularly so given the last remaining veterans and now so few in
0:36.0	number. It's been my great honor to meet many Pearl Harbor veterans over the years and so few
0:40.1	I left. In his podcast, I tell you the story of Pearl Harbor, explain what happened, that
0:44.8	fateful day, that day that will live on in infamy, but I also get the extraordinary opportunity
0:49.5	to meet one of the veterans. Mickey Gannick, he served on USS Pennsylvania. He was on
0:55.1	body, he wasn't just on board, he was high in the superstructure. He had the perfect view of the
0:59.7	attackers. It was unfolding all around him. And Mickey talks to me about the people that he saw
1:04.0	wounded and killed and that reminds us that Pearl Harbor, in fact, there were two bloodiest days
1:08.4	for the USA during the Second World War, two days which had the highest body count. And that was
1:14.0	D-Day and Pearl Harbor, very grateful to Mickey joining me on the podcast.
1:19.0	Also huge special thanks for this episode. Go to the National Archives and Records Administration
1:23.1	United States. We've used audio from the extraordinary collection and we are very grateful as ever
1:28.0	to them for their custodian ship of such wonderful archive. If you are interested in Pearl Harbor,
1:33.6	please head over to History Hit TV. We've got our documentary produced by our American team with
1:38.5	Don Wildman, great broadcaster, a well-known TV host in the States, who tells us his family's
1:43.8	story of Pearl Harbor and what happened next. So please head over to History Hit.TV, works anywhere
1:49.2	in the world, History Hit.TV and you'll be hearing from Don Wildman. I'm really, really proud
	...

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