Author Talk Series: Japanese Attacks on NAS Pearl Harbor

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. J Michael Wenger, a military historian, will discuss the history of the Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor starting in the 1920s until the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941.

NAS Pearl Harbor figured prominently in Japanese attack plans. In order to ensure that forces on the island would be unable to launch counterstrikes against the enemy aircraft carriers north of O'ahu, the Japanese targeted the station, its hangars, and its squadrons of PBY patrol bombers. Because of its location in the center of Pearl Harbor, the Americans stationed there had ringside seats to the Japanese attacks in the harbor and played a prominent role in rescues and salvage efforts after the departure of the Japanese.