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.
USS Jarvis (DD-393)
On 16 December she cleared Pearl Harbor with the aircraft carrier and joined Task Force 14, steaming to relieve the beleaguered defenders on Wake Atoll. The task forces was recalled to Pearl Harbor on 23 December after the rescue mission was aborted. "Jarvis" returned to Pearl Harbor on 29 December to resume ASW patrols. While operating with the carrier and her screening cruisers, "Jarvis" rescued 182 survivors of the stricken fleet oiler six hours after she was torpedoed during mid-watch on 23 January 1942.