Japanese war crimes
The U.S. officially classified all 3,649 military and civilian casualties and destruction of military property at Pearl Harbor as non-combatants as there was no state of war between the U.S. and Japan when the attack occurred. Joseph B. Keenan, the chief prosecutor in the Tokyo Trials, says that the attack on Pearl Harbor not only happened without a declaration of war but was also a treacherous and deceitful act. In fact, Japan and the U.S. were still negotiating for a possible peace agreement which kept U.S. officials very distracted when Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Keenan explained the definition of a war of aggression and the criminality of the attack on Pearl Harbor:
United States Navy Dental Corps
Two Dental Corps officers were killed and four were wounded in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941; they would not be the last dental officers to die in the line of duty. As the US got ready for world conflict, Navy Dentistry's active duty numbers swelled to its highest levels ever – ultimately reaching 7,000 dental officers and 11,000 dental technicians. Active in nearly every engagement during the war, dental personnel who were assigned to operational units in the South Pacific often assisted in emergency medical operations ashore, especially facial trauma requiring surgery. Numerous dental officers were killed in action aboard war ships and in major battles in Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. For their heroic efforts, 93 dental officers received personal awards, including the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and the Bronze Star Medal.