Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor was a US Naval Base in Hawaii. (PROSE: Only Connect)

History

In 1941, the Seventh Doctor cited Pearl Harbor to Joachim Wolff as a name on a map which would be given "new and terrible meaning" over the remainder of World War II. (PROSE: Just War)

On Sunday, 7 December 1941, during the Pacific War, Japan's Imperial Army Air Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor. Ray Budnick, a civilian pilot, was the first American to engage the Japanese as their Zero aircraft opened fire on him while he was out on a morning flight over Honolulu. The Fourth Doctor considered Budnick, who escaped, as important a historical character as the US General and post-war President Dwight D. Eisenhower even though history would forget him. The Japanese proceeded to bomb the American naval base in what the Doctor called "the greatest airborne attack" of the 20th century. (PROSE: Only Connect)

Bill Filer considered Pearl Harbor a big "series of balls-ups." (PROSE: The Devil Goblins from Neptune) However, there were rumours that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew the attack on Pearl Harbor was coming but kept quiet so he could use it as justification to enter World War II. (PROSE: This Town Will Never Let Us Go) Either way, the attack, as noted by the Eighth Doctor, woke the United States of America from "an isolationist slumber", bringing them into the war on the side of the Allies. (PROSE: Fear Itself)

In 1979, while trying to study the unusual properties of the Gallifreyan book, The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey, Chris Parsons told Clare Keightley that it would "do to the world of science what the Japanese did to Pearl Harbour". She incredulously replied, "What, drive-bomb it?" (TV: Shada, PROSE: Shada)

Alternate timeline

In the history in which the Ironsides were never discovered by the Eleventh Doctor, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor came after the Ironsides prematurely liberated France and pushed Nazi forces to Germany. When the Japanese attempted to come to Germany's aid with a pre-emptive attack, the Ironsides stepped in, taking on the enemy bombers in a "vicious dogfight" lasting two days. The American Navy was saved and President Harry S. Truman bestowed the Medal of Honor on the Ironsides, finally agreeing to aid the British in the war effort. Two months later, the Allied forces marched on Berlin, and the Nazi stranglehold was broken. (PROSE: The Ironside Advance)

Behind the scenes

Pearl Harbor is spelled with the American spelling in Fear Itself, Only Connect and Happily Ever After Is a High-Risk Strategy, but with the British spelling of "Pearl Harbour" in Just War, The Devil Goblins from Neptune, This Town Will Never Let Us Go, and Shada.