Heroes

The epigraph of Part 2 is a quote from President Roosevelt’s Address to the Joint Session of Congress on December 8, 1941, and reads: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” (41).

As Japanese planes fly overhead, Stanley insists it must be a prank. Then several planes drop torpedoes that strike the Utah, and it becomes clear that what’s happening is real. Brooks drags Frank and Stanley behind a woodpile for cover, then runs to help other sailors. Machine gun fire hits the deck. Frank sees one sailor struck by bullets and fall backward through a hatch. Panicked, Frank looks for Brooks, but he is nowhere in sight.

Then they see another sailor on the deck. He is young and stunned, simply standing in the open as bullets rain around him. Frank yells for him to take cover, but he does not respond. While Frank stays frozen behind the woodpile, Stanley runs out.

Stanley rushes out, grabs the sailor’s shirt, and drags him behind the woodpile as more bullets hit the deck. Frank realizes the sailor would be dead if Stanley had not saved him.