Who was an important person during the attack at Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

Dori Miller - 1st African American to receive a medal for shooting down Japanese aircraft without experience on the weapon he used, Lt. Welsh and Lt. Taylor ~ flew against the Japanese zeros taking 6 or 7 out of the battle. A great resource is Walter Lord's 'Day of Infamy.'

Answer 2

LT George Welch and LT Ken Taylor were 2 pilots who were able to get to their planes and successfully fight back during the battle. There were other pilots in the air but these two gentlemen were the only ones to successfully shoot down Japanese aircrafts. Dory Miller - a cook on board the USS West Virginia who had never been trained on weapons successfully shot down 2 Japanese aircrafts after those manning the guns were killed. Admiral Kimmel was ultimately held responsible for his Navy not being prepared for the attack.

Answer 3

Dori Miller - 1st African American to receive a medal for shooting down Japanese aircraft without experience on the weapon he used, Lt. Welsh and Lt. Taylor ~ flew against the Japanese zeros taking 6 or 7 out of the battle. A great resource is Walter Lord's 'Day of Infamy.'

Answer 4

As far as I'm concerned the most important people involved are Admiral Kimmel, General Short and Admiral Yamamoto.

I feel that General Short did not fulfill his duty as a professional soldier. Despite repeated War Warnings the General did not implement already accepted safety procedures in use by the allies for several years.

It must be remembered that British Fighter Command had already fought a hard campaign against the Nazis and had learned many lessons. Why a so-called professional, responsible for so many lives, did not review the strategy and command and control of English defenses, an Island, and, then, compare and implement those proven methods is an enigma.

The General seems to have convinced himself that an attack would come far away, in the Philippines, at Wake Island, in the Dutch East Indies. Strategy should have, at its basics, told the command and intelligence that logic would dictate an attack on Pearl Harbor as the most likely act in a first strike. A crippled fleet and destroyed naval base would be incapable of supply or rescue or assisting any outposts of the empire.

Certainly the General and Admiral knew that the Japanese possessed a very powerful naval fleet including many aircraft carriers. War games had shown that aircraft were likely to be the next predominate weapon in war at sea as early as 1929. Admiral Kimmel was concerned and General Short also was aware that an attack would likely begin with an aerial assault, probably followed with an invasion. They did not by any means discount a possible attack.

The perplexing part is the aspect of the lack of Command and Control. This is what being a General or an Admiral is all about. Perhaps it would have taken an exceptional leader of the time to foresee the possibilities, to have studied the theorists ideas and to have understood these concepts as the evolving face of warfare coming to fruition. Perhaps in faulting General Short too greatly is to recognize that the defense of Pearl Harbor amounted to taking on the duties of the Prime Minister of England. Those notions are also true, but where was the assurance that, given the seriousness of the threat, information would be processes and acted upon. This is one of the most serious failings of the General and the Admiral. The next most serious failing was the failure to take protective physical measures. The implementation of an Observer Corps, linked to a Command Center that was staffed 24 hours by more senior officers capable of making decisions of weight, and the failure to implement manned anti-aircraft defenses around the clock, and to keep sufficient aircraft at the standby for a scramble. All these things were pretty much SOP(Standard Operating Procedures) in use by the British for nearly two years. The implementation of these defenses would not have changed the course of events, but the implementation of these defensive techniques would have acted as fail safes. Alert by Radar followed by visual confirmation of enemy aircraft should have triggered an alarm. Failing that, the manned anti-aircraft defenses firing on the attackers would have, at least, assisted in blunting the attack.

To be sure, the attack on the Midget Sub by the Destroyer Ward should have been enough to sound a general alarm. The radar report should have raised a scramble of interceptors to confirm that report. A lot of stuff should have happened, but it was never tested to see if it would signal a general alarm. That is the main problem, General Short and Admiral Kimmel never conducted a test of the Islands defenses.

Last is the so-called brilliant attack by Admiral Yamamoto. Lets face reality, this was a totally botched operation. First off was the ridiculous use of Midget Submarines. The Japanese themselves thought this too risky but eventually relented to their use because of pressure from the Submarine Commanders to have a part in the glory. Too bad the stupid things didn't blow the whole operation like the Japanese Admiral thought they might do. Second off, the attack was not carried to its military goal of crippling the docks, repair facilities, and destruction of the oil reserves. Last, the mighty Japanese battleships could have been employed in long range shelling protected by a large screen of fighters once the obvious defeat was recognized. Over all, the plan lacked sufficient depth to achieve the purported goals and objectives.

An artful use of the superior Japanese technology would have involved the total employment of the submarine force in a simultaneous attack upon the remaining US ships along the US Coast. This is where the midget subs might have been better put to use with greater chances of success.

These are the three most important people because anyone of the three could have changed the course of events through different courses of actions. Tested the Ilands defenses, put accepted early warning and response systems in to place, or, in Yamamoto's case, undertaken a more daring design, or have forced the one that was undertaken to a more successful outcome.

Answer 5

dori miller who is an African American who took the place of a man who was shot and received a metal,.

Answer 6

Politicians & High Ranking Officers aside; without the PILOTS & AIRCREWMEN, there would have been NO PEARL HARBOR ATTACK! AIRCREWMEN put Pearl Harbor into the history books.

Answer 7

Emperor Hirorito, Yamamoto