Behind the Story:
Attack at Pearl Harbor
Featured Stories - Eyewitness Accounts
Cornelia Fort's Eyewitness Account of the Attack on Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, in the early morning light, instructor Cornelia Fort took to the skies with her student pilot to practice takeoffs and landings. At that very moment, the Japanese fighter planes were approaching the island. Read Cornelia Fort's first-hand account of the ordinary student pilot lesson that turned into a maneuver to escape enemy fire.
Read the rest of Cornelia Fort’s first-hand account »
First Hand Account of LT Ruth Erickson, NC (Nurse Corps)
... I leaped out of my chair and dashed to the nearest window in the corridor. Right then there was a plane flying directly over the top of our quarters, a one-story structure. The rising sun under the wing of the plane denoted the enemy. Had I known the pilot, one could almost see his features around his goggles. He was obviously saving his ammunition for the ships. ...
Read the rest of Ruth Erickson's first hand account »
What was life like?
American Life in the 1940s
Listen to the sound of big band music »
Learn about Glenn Miller, his music, and his service in WWII»
Video
FDR's D-Day Prayer
Listen to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer and Address to the Nation on June 6, 1944.
