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PEARL HARBOR

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Introduction

Pearl Harbor was America’s key into World War II. The Japanese had planned the assault

of Pearl Harbor in order to gain military power in the Pacific. This was done by stopping the

potential threats of the United States Navy. The attack had resulted in the death of thousands and

destruction of many ships and aircrafts. I decided to choose this topic because I was interested in

war since I was in elementary school, specifically World War II. It was something that my

friends and I had in common. We would always play around pretending that we were on

different sides and that we were at war with each other. As I got older and learned more about

history, I became more patriotic. I wanted to serve the country myself. As a kid I always wanted

to either be a firefighter or a soldier in the military. Till this very moment, I am still firm on my

choice of serving our nation by joining the Navy or Air force. I figured, what would be better

than being creative with a topic that I already know and enjoy? This multi-Genre project consists

of a description of the day during the attack, timeline, news article, letter, and adventure story in

that order.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION PAGE

Introduction......................................................................................................................................2

GENRES

GENRE 1 – Description.......................................................................................................4

Repetend 1.....................................................................................................................5

GENRE 2 – Timeline...........................................................................................................6

Repetend 2......................................................................................................................8

GENRE 3 – News Article....................................................................................................9

Reptened 3....................................................................................................................10

GENRE 4 – Letter..............................................................................................................11

Repetend 4....................................................................................................................12

GENRE 5 – Adventure/Short Story...................................................................................13

Repetend 5....................................................................................................................15

REFLECTION...............................................................................................................................16

BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................17

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Description

It was a nice, sunny, and quiet day. Everything seemed normal, but all of a sudden a buzz

came from above. The next moment, the partly cloudy sky was covered with planes. The planes

had a red circle on the wings, it was the Japanese flag. They were in a formation where the

bombers were surrounded by other jets for protection. Once the bombers got into the range of the

naval ships, bombs were dropped. From being peaceful, to chaotic in seconds. Flames arose and

ships sank. The USS Arizona got hit multiple times, one after another. Men hopping on anti-

aircraft guns to shoot back in retaliation. Only a few Japanese plans got shot down. Men were

still getting killed. If not by the bombers, it would be by the strafing fighter planes. It was a

blood bath. Friends dying right next to you. The ocean was filled with dead bodies floating

around. Japanese planes aiming at survivors in the waters; water was splashing in the direction of

the strafe. Survivors dove down underwater just to avoid the planes from seeing them and or

hitting them.

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Half the casualties during the Pearl Harbor attack occurred on the USS Arizona.

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The USS Arizona was hit by four bombs.

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23 sets of brothers died on the USS Arizona.

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The USS Arizona’s band died on the ship.

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Americas Introduction to World War II

It was the day before the attack. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent an appeal to

Japan’s emperor for peace. There was no reply. Later that day, United States officials got

notified of a possible Japanese attack. The target of the possible Japanese attack was not known

for sure, but it was believed that the attack would not be in America. Professional Code breakers

were able to decipher this much of the Japanese interception; however, they were not able to

decipher it all till the next day.

It is the next day, Sunday, December 7, 1941. The final part of the intercepted cryptic

message is decoded. The previously unknown targeted Japanese attack is now known. The time

zone of the message decoded matches Pearls Harbors time. The United States War Department

sent a message to the headquarters in Pearl Harbor. It is too late. By the time the message was

received the attack had already begun. This is where it all begins.

There is a buzzing sound from above getting louder and louder. I looked up and there was

dozens of planes flying up ahead. I was unsure of what was happening. Suddenly, the first bomb

drops and I realized that we were getting attacked. One bomb came after another. Planes came

down close to perform strafe runs. I immediately went into action by grabbing and setting up my

Browning M1918A2. Once it was set I started aiming for the fighters zooming up above. The

fighters were too fast for me to aim and hit. It was not easy to do; they did not just let me shoot at

them with not consequence. They were shooting back at me. Bullets were zooming past my

body. I got back onto my Browning and returned more fire. I finally hit one. The Japanese plane

began smoking and all of a sudden it started to spin straight toward me. I left my Browning

behind and ran. The explosion of the plane crash got to me and shrapnel went straight into my

right leg. I had to limp to a ditch for more cover. I was losing large amounts of blood from the

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injury and all of a sudden I passed out. The last thing I remember was a medic running toward

me.

I finally woke up, they were treating my injuries. My whole right leg was covered. I

looked around and there were flames everywhere. Men were carrying bodies of their deceased or

injured friends. Everywhere I looked I was able to see the damage dealt. We are officially at war.

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A memorial was built on the site where the ship sunk.

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Reflection

During the multi-genre project, I was surprised by the multitude of genres that existed.

While in the process of doing this project, I found out that some genres required a lot of skill and

techniques to do them. I also figured out that I was not the most creative when writing the

adventure story making it hard for me to do. The adventure story ended up being more of a short

story. Initially, I thought that Pearl Harbor was going to be a fun and easy topic to do. As I began

to write some of the genres I found out that I started to repeat the same information multiple

times; however, I did not think that it would be a problem. For example, the news article and

letter took some further research. I already knew some things about Pearl Harbor, but to write

these two genres took more research in order to know how an individual would feel and to know

what exactly happened when and where. This was not only hard to do, but it was also fun. I was

able to test the extent of my creativity; furthermore, it was fun and interesting to find out about

certain individuals. In some situations, I was able to pretend that I was there and that I was a

writer for a newspaper. If I had brought my laptop to class every day, I would have been more

productive with my work. When everyone was present in class, all the computers would be

taken. There was multiple occasions where a few of us had to go to the media center in order to

work on computers; however, the media center would often be closed or used for testing. One

time we had to go to four different locations just to find one with available computers, but by

then we had already lost a lot of time to work on the project. My advice for any person that

wants to do a multi-genre project is to pick a topic that you would enjoy doing, not necessarily

that you have done before or know a lot about. This makes the project more fun and enjoyable to

do.

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Bibliography

“5 Facts About Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona.” History.com. A+E Networks, 2009. Web. 19

Apr. 2015.

“Pearl Harbor.” History.com. A+E Networks, 2009. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

“Pearl Harbor.” HistoryNet.com. World History Group, 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

“Pearl Harbor Facts.” History1900s.about.com. About, 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

“Pearl Harbor Time Line.” NationalGeographic.com. National Geographic Society, 2001. Web.

17 Apr. 2015.

“World War II Time Line.” NationalGeographic.com. National Geographic Society, 2001. Web.

17 Apr. 2015.