So Sorry No Mercy

Few events in World War II were as defining as the Japanese sudden and unexpected assault on Pearl Harbor, which prompted our entry into the war.

It began on the morning of December 7th 1941, at 7:55am local time, when the Imperial Japanese Navy, with 353 planes, attacked our US fleet at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii, killing 2,403 men, women and children.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously declared the attack "A date which shall live in infamy" in a speech following the attack which was broadcast live on the radio at 12:30pm on December 9th. The whole nation tuned in.

Later that afternoon President Roosevelt signed the declaration of war against Japan.

To really capture the moment you can listen to the original broadcast on RUSC. Close your eyes and try to imagine just how chilling those words were, and what the horrific implications would be.

There's a show called So Sorry No Mercy broadcast by the Cavalcade of America on March 27th 1944. It is the story of the American correspondent Royal Arch Gunnison who foresaw the war with Japan and warned the world; who escaped the march of death in the Philippines and later in China; and who came back to tell his story.

Royal Arch Gunnison also appears at the end of the story with a message of hope for those, at the time, still under Japanese domination. Listen now on RUSC.

Happy listening my friends,