First radio broadcast of attack on Pearl Harbor
In the last game of the 1941 NFL regular season the Eastern Division champions New York Giants were playing the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds in New York City.
Radio broadcast of the game was interrupted by one of the most dramatic and tragic bulletins in American history.
While they were playing on that Sunday, December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese.
The Giants lost the game to the Dodgers 21–7, but as events unfolded 5,000 miles away, it mattered not.
Japanese planes attacked the home base of the American Pacific fleet in two waves. The first struck at 7:53 a.m., the second at 8:55 a.m. By 9:55 a.m., it was all over.
More than 2,400 American servicemen and over 100 civilians were killed, and 19 U.S. Navy ships destroyed.
In Europe, Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States.
America was at war. In the next three-and-a-half years, more than 400,000 Americans would be killed and over 600,000 wounded.