December 7 (
"Date Which Will Live in Infamy” ) fell on a Sunday in 1941 as it will tomorrow, in 2014.
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 America's naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by aircraft and submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, killing 2,403 American military personnel and civilians and injuring 1,178 others. The attack sank four U.S. Navy battleships and damaged four more. It also damaged or sank three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged. (Wikipedia)
That infamous event happened 73 years ago. Since then it has been portrayed and interpreted numerous times in literature and in film, from different perspectives.
From Here to Eternity remains, for me, the most memorable movie of that genre. Somehow the unexpectedness of the attack seems more real and perceptible, set against otherwise soap-opera-like, and eventually unimportant, slings and arrows of everyday life inside a US military base near to Honolulu.
I was fortunate enough to spend three weeks in Honolulu, Hawaii, on vacation in 1984. From the UK we took advantage of a "3 weeks for the price of 2" offer. It was an unforgettable vacation, during which we did the Pearl Harbor "thing" created for tourists: a boat trip around Pearl Harbor with narration coming over a loudspeaker, pointing out significant locations and the oil slicks still (since 1941) rising from sunken US naval vessels. The tour culminated with the throwing overboard of a large wreath of white blossoms, in remembrance of all those lost that day in 1941. Not a dry eye on board was there at that point! I did have photographs, but all were lost in the fire that took all our possessions some twelve years later.
Below: “Battleship Row in Flames” a large painting (40 in. x 60 in.) by John Hamilton, widely acknowledged as an accurate and thoroughly researched portrayal of the Sunday morning sneak attack by the Japanese Carrier Striking Task Force. See HERE. Click on image for a clearer, enlarged view.
Astro.com has a chart for the date and time of the attack on Pearl Harbor
HERE. I haven't yet found a standard interpretation that satisfies me. The chart is a bit odd considering what it represents - perhaps it'd be better to look at Hawaii's "natal" chart or the US's chart for the same time, and compare. Any thoughts?
LATE ADDITION: natal chart for Hedeki Tojo Japan's military leader at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It's set for 12 noon on his date of birth, according to Wiki: 30 December 1884 in a part of Tokyo.
Note - in the chart linked above for Pearl Harbor at the time of the attack, Saturn and Uranus are in late Taurus at 23 and 27 degrees (close to Fixed Star Algol). In Tojo's natal chart Pluto and Neptune straddle the Taurus/Gemini cusp conjunct Saturn in the Pearl Harbor chart. I don't know whether this is significant, but thought I'd throw it in.
