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Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is the home of the U.S. Pacific Naval base. It's a lagoon of the island of Oahu, Hawaii. at 8AM hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the base. They destroyed 20 US vessels and more than 300 planes. 2,000 Americans were killed and 1,000 were wounded. This was devastating to America. They then declared war on Japan. -
Japanese Internment in US
The internment camps were built to home all Japanese-Americans. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, all Japanese people were seen as a threat. The US thought that they were all spies for Japan. They were nervous for an attack on the main land. 120,000 Japanese-Americans were put in the camps. They set up schools, libraries, and hospitals to enhance their life at camp. -
Doolittle Raid
It was an air raid on Tokyo, Japan. Sixteen B-25 Bombers were launched from the USS Hornet 650 miles east of Japan. It was the first air strike on Japan's homeland. It did very little damage, but provided an important boost to American morale. -
Air raid on Nauru Island
The raid was very successful. The Japanese phosphate manufacturing plant had been completely destroyed. The pant was used for 80% of Japan's bombs, drugs, and plastics.The US Liberator B-24 bombed the Island. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was crucial to Americas success in WW2. To go on the offensive side they had to stop Japan from expanding. The Americans intercepted a message saying the Japanese was planning for a major offensive on the US base of the Midway Islands. the battle was fought in the middle of the sea. In the end the US Navy took the victory. This was Japan's last offensive action. -
Arrival at Omori POW camp
This is his new POW camp. It's a man made island in the Tokyo Bay. At this camp he meets his enemy, The Bird. -
The Bird (Mutsuhiro Watanabe)
The Bird was obsessed with Louie because he was an olympian uncooperative man. The bird hit POW's everyday. He was very different; he loved emotional torture. The bird would torture Louie in many harsh ways. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
This battle is known to be the largest Naval battle in history. It was fought in the waters near the Philippine Islands. They attacked the island of Leyte in order to Isolate Japan from the countries they occupied. It was the scene of the first Kamikaze attacks. -
The B-29
At the time, the B-29 was a state of the art aircraft. The plane would change the war significantly. It could travel at 350 MPH and carry giant bombs over long distances. This would make it easier for the Americans to capture Tokyo from air invasions. -
Louie is Alive
At 2:30 a.m. Louie was announced that he was alive. The US mistaken him for being dead. The Japanese try to use him as a propaganda prisoner. Louie declines the offer. -
Tokyo Sirens
The POW's heard the Tokyo sirens and heard a roar from above. they looked up and they saw hundred of B-29's. The POW's were full of joy and excitement because the Americans have arrived. -
Red Cross Packages
The Red Cross was beginning to send relief packages, but the Japanese stole them. Out of 240 boxes, The bird stole 48 of them. Starvation was a huge problem for the POW's because they weren't given a lot of food. -
The Bird leaves
The Bird had been promoted to a sergeant at another camp. Louie said, "The reign of terror was over". After his departure, Omori became a better living environment. Fair minded Japanese took over the camp. They even gave the POW'S letters from home. -
Bombers down
There was a massive air fight between American and Japanese plans. It was the largest air battle yet. The Japanese lost 500 planes while the U.S. lost 80 planes. The city of Tokyo was bathed in fire. -
The move to Camp Naoetsu
Naoetsu was a small village in Western Japan. The climate was very snowy and cold. Little did Louie know that the bird was waiting for him. -
Conventional Bombing of Tokyo
The bombing was a series of firebombing raids on Japan. The Operation Meetinghouse annihilated 16 sq. miles and left more than one million Japanese homeless. Japan called this the night of the black snow. The B-29 super fortress was significant to the bombing of Tokyo. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The month long battle was the bloodiest battle of the war. The island is full of sulfur. Iwo Jima would offer a place for B-29's to land in an emergency. It would also serve as a base for fight planes escorting bombs over Japan. Unfortunately, more than 6,800 American troops died. -
First Atomic Bomb dropped
The Manhattan project was a top secret program to develop an atomic bombs. There were two atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan. The first bomb was on Hiroshima. 70,000-80,000 were killed from the bomb. It completely wiped out the city of Hiroshima. They later dropped another one on Nagasaki, Japan. -
VJ Day
The bombing of Nagasaki brought a Japanese surrender. V-J Day was the day that marked the end of the second World War. In total, about 55 million people were killed. Unfortunately, 30 million of them were innocent civilians.
