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A world wide event that was one of the most tragic days in American history was December seventh 1941 was the bombing and air raid on Oahu Hawaii west of Honolulu called Pearl Harbor. About 2,402 personnel were killed on ships and on land. The Japanese goals were to take out the US Pacific fleet so they wouldn't ruin the conquest of South East Asia ( Philippines, Vietnam and etc.). I was a one of the personnel that did make it back alive from that horrible experience. The day first started out as a bright sunny day in the harbor and you would be able to see the fish going up and down in the crystal clear water. Early that morning it was very quiet outside which was pretty good but also made me feel something was wrong. As I was looking at the beach off the USS Nevada and all of a sudden I began to hear the alarm start going off and people started running . Then the officer at the time was Ensign Joe Taussig, Jr.  We first  all saw the planes fly over once doing nothing but we knew what they were going to do so all the men went up deck and started to fire guns  blazing in the air. But then a Japanese torpedo bomber let two torpedoes out into the side of the ship. We were located by the harbors entrance and suffered engine failure  and had a big gap on the side of the ship. Joe Taussig suffered and lost both legs in the accident. The only thing to do instead of blocking the harbor entrance we beached the ship on the shore line. As I began to get off the ship  The planes were gone from the smoky black sky. As my eyes began to tear I saw another fleet of planes flying down. Then I saw two planes hit the side of the USS Arizona. Then two torpedo bombers and one bomber plane hit the back side of the ship. As I watched people jumping off the ship ( some in flames) another and final plane hit a major fuel line which made a big explosion. As I watched the USS Arizona sink I thought of how many people died being trapped inside the ship and also sucked under by the boats sinking propellers. I then began running to go help any civilian that was hit from the bombings. After the air raid I saw blood and wrecked planes every where. Also I saw 4  half submerged ships in the water on fire and the Arizona had sunk do to the kamikaze bomb run. We lost 1,117 people on the ship of the USS Arizona. The next day the President made an announcement on the radio which stated that December 7 is a date which will live in infamy.