Pearl Harbor

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

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, the Imperial Army Air Fleet of Japan 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)

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 in the English spelling of "Pearl Harbour" in Just War, The Devil Goblins from Neptune and This Town Will Never Let Us Go.