
Sailors paying tribute in 1942 to casualties of the Pearl Harbor attack in the new Smithsonian Channel series “The Lost Tapes.” Credit National Archives and Records Administration, via Smithsonian Channel
The Smithsonian Channel has a new documentary featuring lost tapes about the lead up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the event itself, and the aftermath. As the Smithsonian Channel page explains, “By September 1940, the world was on high alert: Japan had just entered a pact with the Axis forces, prompting the U.S. to consider a suitable response. Here’s how their entry into WWII was covered by media of the time.” You can read more about it here and see an excerpt at this link.
My mother, Joan, wrote eloquently about her reactions to the bombing. You can read an excerpt from her diaries here written on the evening of December 7, after the bombing.