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Pearl Harbor Day: Photos of damage still resonate, more than eight decades later

Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)

Thursday marks the anniversary of one of the most significant days in U.S. and world history, a day that still lives in infamy, 82 years later.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese forces mounted a surprise aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy base in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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The carnage was big, with more than 2,403 Americans killed and unspeakable damage to ships and planes on the base.

It was also the event that triggered the United States officially entering World War II.

If pictures in your school history class didn’t convey just how bad the damage was, the photos below likely will.

Scenes of the wreckage after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin after the attack. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
The U.S. House of Representatives meets to go over the impending declaration of war after the Pearl Harbor attack. (Getty Images)
Then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs a declaration of war that brings the United States into World War II. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)
Scenes of wreckage after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. (Getty Images)

This story was first published in 2021 and has since been updated.


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