Photo Credit – warfarehistorynetwork.com

Smoke rises from Clark Field after a Japanese air attack.

Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is one of the most holy days in the Philippine Christian calendar. On the eve of the Feast in 1941, there was a festive mood all around. Because of international dateline, it was Saturday, Dec. 6, 1941 in Hawaii, but across the Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line in Manila, it was already Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. The Americans were holding a big birthday bash for Brigadier General Lewis Brereton, MacArthur’s Army Air Force commander at the Manila Hotel given by 1,200 men of the 27^th Bombardment Group.

While the party was going on in Manila, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, some 320 miles north of Hawaii, Commander Kanjiro Ono of the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi was listening to the radio…