Pearl Harbor

December 7th is "A day that will live in infamy."

So said President Franklin Roosevelt in December 1941 after the Japanese air force and navy attacked US ships docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged and over 2400 Americans were killed in the pre-dawn attack .

Like every city and town, each US Naval Ship and Naval Station has its own post office.

Jon Burdett's Ships of Pearl Harbor on-line collection features covers from almost every ship as well as most of the commands, airfields, and Army barracks.

Shown above is a rare December 7, 1941 cover with a US Navy handstamp.

To see the rest of Jon's on-line collection (which is maintained by Paul R. Yarnall of the NavSource Naval History Project), click here.

To view National Geographic's fascinating, minute-by-minute, target by target, multimedia Web site with photos, footage, firsthand accounts, and narration about the pre-dawn attack on Pearl Harbor, click here.

For some frequently asked questions about Pearl Harbor, click here.