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Pacific Theater Maps & December 7 Timeline

Use this handout during Phase 1 (Briefing) of the lesson plan, before students begin the VR experience.

Map 1 — The Pacific Theater

Orientation for students: Hawaii sits roughly 2,400 miles from the U.S. mainland (California) and about the same distance from Japan across the Pacific Ocean. Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, was the primary base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in 1941. Have students locate on a wall map or globe: the U.S. mainland, the Hawaiian Islands, Japan, and the general expanse of open ocean between them. This distance is central to why the attack came as a strategic surprise — Pearl Harbor was thousands of miles from the nearest hostile territory.

Map 2 — Pearl Harbor Base Layout

Key locations to identify: Battleship Row (where the fleet's largest ships, including the USS Arizona, were moored), Hickam Field (Army Air Corps base), Wheeler Field (fighter aircraft base), Ford Island (naval air station in the middle of the harbor), and the Navy Hospital. The Testimony Cards reference several of these locations directly — encourage students to locate each testimony-giver's position on this layout as they read.

December 7, 1941 — Timeline

Time (Hawaii)	Event
6:00 a.m.	Japanese aircraft carriers, positioned roughly 230 miles north of Oahu, begin launching the first wave of attack aircraft.
7:48 a.m.	First wave arrives over Pearl Harbor. Dive bombers and torpedo planes begin their attack runs on Battleship Row and nearby airfields.
7:55 a.m.	General quarters sounded across the fleet. Anti-aircraft fire begins.
8:10 a.m.	USS Arizona is struck by an armor-piercing bomb that detonates its forward ammunition magazine; the ship sinks rapidly with heavy loss of life.
8:54 a.m.	Second wave of Japanese aircraft arrives, targeting ships and installations that survived the first wave.
9:45 a.m.	Second wave withdraws. The attack, lasting under two hours across both waves, is over.
Dec. 7, afternoon–evening	Rescue, firefighting, and recovery operations continue across the harbor. Hospitals fill with wounded.
Dec. 8, 1941	President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses Congress, calling December 7 "a date which will live in infamy." The United States formally enters World War II.

This timeline is a teaching simplification of a complex event. For a full account, see the reading list on the main Harrison's Heroes site (harrisonjohnsonsheroes.com) or the resources at pacifichistoricparks.org.