Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
ON DECEMBER 7, 1941,
THE FOREIGN WAR CAME TO AMERICA.
IN THE SPACE OF TWO HOURS,
A JAPANESE AIR ASSAULT ON PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII,
DECIMATED THE U.S. PACIFIC FLEET
AND KILLED NEARLY 2,500 SERVICEMEN.
WITHIN THREE DAYS, THE WORLD WAS AT WAR.
THE PRESIDENT BRACED THE COUNTRY
FOR THE CHALLENGES THAT LAY AHEAD.
WE ARE NOW IN THIS WAR.
WE'RE ALL IN IT, ALL THE WAY.
EVERY SINGLE MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD IS A PARTNER
IN THE MOST TREMENDOUS UNDERTAKING
OF OUR AMERICAN HISTORY.
Narrator: JUST TWO YEARS EARLIER,
THE U.S. MILITARY WAS WEAK,
AND THE NATION ILL-PREPARED FOR BATTLE.
BUT AS EVENTS OVERSEAS BECAME INCREASINGLY OMINOUS,
THE COUNTRY BEGAN TO REBUILD ITS ARMED FORCES.
DECEMBER 7th SHOCKED THE NATION INTO DRAMATIC ACTION.
"REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR" BECAME AMERICA'S BATTLE CRY.
EAGER YOUNG MEN ANXIOUS TO FIGHT
FLOCKED TO ARMED SERVICES RECRUITING OFFICES.
OVER FIVE MILLION VOLUNTEERED FOR DUTY.
10 MILLION MORE WERE DRAFTED DURING THE WAR.
AFTER EIGHT WEEKS OF BASIC TRAINING,
THESE NEW RECRUITS WERE BATTLE-TRAINED
AND READY TO FIGHT.
NEW SOLDIERS WERE GIVEN UNIFORMS, WEAPONS, SUPPLIES,
AND STANDARD HAIRCUTS.
EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED WAS GOVERNMENT ISSUE.
IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE SOLDIERS THEMSELVES
WERE BEING REFERRED TO AS GOVERNMENT ISSUE, OR G.I.'s.
AMERICANS FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE AND ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS
SIGNED UP FOR THE ARMED FORCES.
OVER ONE MILLION AFRICAN-AMERICANS
SERVED DURING THE WAR,
THOUGH SEGREGATION AND PREJUDICE
FORCED THEM INTO SUPPORT POSITIONS
UNTIL NEAR THE END OF THE WAR.
WOMEN JOINED THE FIGHT, TOO.
DURING THE WAR, OVER 250,000 WOMEN
SERVED IN MANY ROLES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD,
SUCH AS PILOTS, NURSES, AND MECHANICS.