Yes, Worry About It

This year is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This happened on a quiet Sunday morning taking the Naval installation totally unaware. But in reality there were many early signs of the sneak attack.

Agencies in the U.S. government knew about an impending attack for weeks before hand but because of lack of specifics and inter-agency miscommunication the information was not getting to the navel commanders in the Pacific. Then on the day of the attack, due to a series of military blunders, the warning of the impending attack arrived at the commander of Pearl Harbor – eight hours after the attack – by telegram!

Don't Worry About It
When you see a large number of unidentified blips on a radar screen, most times they are something to worry about.

As a technologist, I find most interesting the story of the radar installation on the north side of the island which saw the incoming Japanese planes. In those days radar was a new and unproven technology. As a result when the technicians saw the blips on their screen they did not report their size and number accurately to headquarters where a young, inexperienced first lieutenant, Kermit Tyler, assumed they were a scheduled arrival of six B-17 bombers from the mainland and said, “Don’t worry about it”. Later it was determined that Tyler had been assigned to the Information Center with little or no training, no supervision, and no staff with which to work and was subsequently cleared on any wrongdoing. This t-shirt  and hoodie design in my shop commemorates this event.

Christmas is coming soon and you need to consider shipping deadlines for my online shops. The latest possible order date for Christmas delivery at standard shipping in the Continental U.S. is December 16th.

If you have an interest in the story of this day that will live in infamy I suggest the two specials that have been put together by the History Channel.