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On the afternoon of December 7, 1941, news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, reached Washington, D.C.

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"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." -Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto Commander of Japan's Naval Forces

Every chapter starts with a quote.

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The West Coast, with its large population of Japanese immigrants, panicked. And suddelny every Japanese-American living here was looked on with suspicion. Some were shunned. Others were Hawasses. And many were forced into internment camps.

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What I saw that December morning in 1941, what all of us survivors witnessed, was the stuff of nightmares.

This book is an autobiography.

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The 1,512 sailors on the Arizona came out of those years, along with all the other men who fought in World War 2. The depression was the forge that formed us.

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This is my story. It is just one of thousands from those who shared that fateful day. And only one of hundreds of thousands from other sailors, soldiers, and airmen who joined the fight in the fateful days that followed. But it was mine to live, that story. And now, I figure, it is time to tell it.

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While those in the big city were experiencing the frothy excesses of the Roaring Twenties, we in rural America were working our fingers to the bone, eking out a living.

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I was going to Omaha, a world away from Red Cloud. From there, to Illinoise, a world away from Nebraska. Then farther still, off to sea and across the ocean.

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The Arizona was 33,000 tons of tempered steel, bolted and welded into a massive machine of war. Quite a sight for a flatlander like me. At 608 feet, she was two football fields long. And she was 97 feet wide. She boasted four turrets, each featuring three 14''/45 guns that weighed 93 tons. And she had twenty-two 5''/51 antiaircraft guns.

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Quite a sight for a flatlander like me. I never saw anything like it in my life. She was really something.

There are always new experiences to be had.

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The chaos on board was overwhelming to a kid from the middle of nowhere. I remember anxiously thinking, Oh, boy, this isn't really what I anticipated.

There are always new experiences to be had.

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The Arizona housed 1,512 officers, sailors, and Marines, a population about the size of Red Cloud. The small town that was the Arizona held everything we had back home -- a general store, a barber shop, soda fountain, post office, print shop, newspaper, dentist office, sick bay, and a brig.

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She had six boiler rooms with four direct-drive steam engines that propelled her through the water at a speed of 21 knots. When fully loaded, though, she could only do 12. She had a steering compartment that required sixteen men to manually turn four large steering wheels in case the automatic steering ever failed to function. Fortunately, it never did, but those men were always there and ready.

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When we were out to sea, fresh water was rationed. Each day we were given a three-gallon bucket of water, which was all the ship's evaporator could produce. With those three gallons we had to bathe, shave, and wash our clothes. When we returned to the harbor, though, we could take real showers. And, if you got up early enough, you could take a hot one.

Don't take what you have for granted.

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The next morning the Arizona took on a full load of fuel oil, nearly 1.5 million gallons, in preparation for her upcoming trip to Bremerton.

We learn actual facts, interesting ones at that.

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As I looked back at the harbor billowing furiously with smoke, seeing the Pacific Fleet destroyed where they were moored, staring at the collapsed remains of Arizona engulfed in flames ... the devastating sweep of it was too much.

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I had to look away from the ship, from the once-majestic form that had taken my breath away when I first saw her; from my home, filled with so much life less than an hour before.

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Between these pages in the book there are several pictures of stuff like the crew of the Arizona, pictures of the harbor before and after the attack, what the burns on one of the victims would have looked like, and much more.

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His words captured the mood of the entire city. "I want to do something."

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If someone touched my skin while I was sleeping I would react, sometimes violently, where I'd almost swing a fist. I also reacted to sharp noises that I wasn't expecting. I had a lot of anger.

War and tragedies can take a tole on people.

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"Lord, when will all this end?" -Navy Chaplain.

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I sat on seven hundred lush acres with a scenic view of the mountains behind it and a serene lake in front. It had 250 luxurious bedrooms, a theater, a ballroom, tennis courts, a golf course, and much more.

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While at Corona we learned of the Battle of Midway, waged from june 4 to 7, 1942. What a way to begin the summer. It was all over the radio, no matter what station you turned to.

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Combat binds you to your brothers-in-arms in a way nothing else can. That is the closeness I felt with the shipmates I lost. And it's also how I felt about the shipmates who were still alive, taking the fight to the Japanese.

Some friendships are unbreakable even through separation or death.

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Because of my experience at sea and in battle, I rose through the ranks quickly and soon was put in charge of a company. They even gave me my own office.

We get to see how this guys life continually changed.

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In July, the Manhattan Project -- which was the code name for the team of scientists who were given the task of building the atomic bomb -- successfully detonated the first nuclear blast in the deserts of New Mexico. By August, the atom bomb was added to America's arsenal of weapons.

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Irving Berlin's 1941 song proved prophetic:

Arms for the love of America!

They speak in a foreign land, with weapons in every hand

Whatever they try, we've gotta reply

In language that they can understand

Relating songs to what happened is unique.

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It is tragic that it took such extreme measures from the United States to conclude Japan's reign of terror. But we ended it.

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On August 15, the emperor addressed his people over the radio. Unlike President Roosevelt, who had addressed the country periodically, Emperor Hirohito had never spoken to his people. As it turned out, his speech was difficult for many to understand, because he spoke in classical Japanese rather than the common language the majority of his people spoke. Still, his message got out.

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The attack of Pearl Harbor taught us -- principally that we should never take our security for granted.

Coming from a chapter called "The Lessons of Pearl Harbor"

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"We lacked foresight"

"We communicated poorly"

"We were overconfident"

"We were not alert"

Coming from a chapter called "The Lessons of Pearl Harbor"

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Overconfident is too generous a term. The more accurate word is arrogant. We just thought we knew it all. But we didn't

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The best documentary about the Arizona is the Discovery Channel's Pearl Harbor: Death of the Arizona.

Being an autobiography the book is so opinionated and just unique in so many ways.

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When you go to the memorial, you will find a museum and visitor center. Both help to keep the story of Pearl Harbor alive through pictures, words, models, and objects salvaged from the ship and from the harbor. A crumpled Japanese torpedo is on display, along with a model of the plane that would have dropped it.

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Because of how tenaciously Japanese soldiers had fought for land that was not their homeland, like Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Allies knew they would defend their own land even more tenaciously. In fact, the propaganda their citizens were fed stated that if 100 million died defending their land, their deaths would be a beautiful tragedy, like "shattered jewels."