My Genealogy Hound

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Seamen from Kaneohe Naval Air Station Decorate Graves of Fellow Seamen, historic photo

A historic photo view of seamen from Kaneohe Naval Air Station decorating the graves of fellow seamen who were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. A total of 2,403 Americans were killed during this attack with many more injured. On the following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress for a formal declaration of war against Japan which Congress granted on that same day. Three days later, on December 11, Italy and Germany declared war on the United States which caused Congress to rapidly respond with a declaration of war against both nations on that same day. Thus began World War II with battlegrounds ranging across Europe, the Pacific and North Africa. By the time the war ended, 419,400 Americans had died (407,300 military plus 12,100 civilian). An estimated total of all of the war casualties of all nations range from 70 million to 80 million making this the most deadly war of all time. The war came to end with the surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945 and the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945.