On the morning of December 7, 1941, a large Japanese aircraft carrier strike force launched a surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack resulted in what many consider the worst defeat in U.S. military history. Five battleships and nine smaller warships were sunk and three other battleships were heavily damaged. One hundred eighty-eight planes were destroyed, most of them on the ground, and 2,403 people were killed. The attack virtually destroyed the American naval presence in the Pacific. Calling it a "day that will live in infamy," President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented a war message to Congress that fell just one vote short of unanimous approval. The attack did more than provide the impetus for America's entry into World War II, however. The destruction at Pearl Harbor triggered what John Tateishi described as "one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history...