History of Hawaii
Pearl Harbor was surprisingly attacked on December 7, 1941 by the Imperial Japanese Navy, killing 2,403 people and sinking the main American battleship fleet. Fortuitously, the four Pacific aircraft carriers were not in port and escaped damage. Hawaii was put under martial law until 1945. Unlike the West Coast of the United States in which 100,000 ethnic Japanese citizens were interned, the Japanese American population in Hawaii completely avoided such similar fate, though hundreds of pro-Japan leaders were arrested. Pearl Harbor was the U.S.' main forward base for the Pacific War. The Japanese tried to invade in summer 1942 but were defeated at the Battle of Midway. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen passed through on their way to the fighting.
Enterprise Air Group
On 7 December 1941, eighteen SBD Dauntless scout bombers of squadrons VS-6 and VB-6 arrived over Pearl Harbor during the attack and, although surprised, immediately went into action in defense of the naval base. Scouting Six lost six planes during the attack, and Bombing Six lost one, killing eight airmen and wounding two others. Later that evening, six VF-6 Wildcats attempted to land at Ford Island, but five were accidentally shot down by friendly anti-aircraft fire, killing three pilots and wounding two others. "Enterprise"’s air group carried out search missions to locate the Japanese carrier task force that attacked Pearl Harbor, but was unable to locate that force. "Enterprise" aircraft did sink a Japanese submarine on 10 December, but was unable to relieve the U.S. Marine garrison on Wake Island which fell to the Japanese.