An interview by Cyrus Kamkar (’18) with friend and WWII veteran James “JP” Petersen of Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Sentinel, Santa Cruz History, “Resident remembers attack on Pearl Harbor,” by Cyrus Kamkar.
December 7th, 1941; the date that changed the course of world history. The Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S. Naval base in Hawaii. This attack prompted the U.S. involvement in WWII. What would be normally expected as a typical Sunday in America was instead a surprise attack that would result in over 2,400 dead servicemen and a steadfast shipment of soldiers, marines, airmen, and sailors to various islands of the Pacific. To provide an idea as to just how treacherous the war in the Pacific was, over 12,000 Americans were killed in the single battle of Okinawa. That number is greater than American soldiers killed in the entire conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Read more
