Although most of us are well aware of the Day of Infamy on Dec. 7, 1941 and the unprovoked, aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Imperial Forces of Japan, few are aware of a highly similar attack on Darwin, Australia a few months later on Feb. 19, 1942.
This attack, the "other Pearl Harbor", has remained in the shadows since then and, perhaps, always will.
As the Imperial Forces of Japan withdrew from their attack on Pearl Harbor, they continued into the Timor Sea on the northern reaches of Australia which could only be described as a frontier region of that continent, hardly connected to the mainstream of 1940s Australia and most certainly not a bristling, military centre to be considered dangerous to Japan.
In Australia, their Day of Infamy is viewed more as a day of shame in their history than one of patriotic glory to be celebrated.
On that day, the people of Darwin were equally shocked and surprised as were the people of Honolulu and military personnel at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. And, what's worse, they were far less prepared for an attack and those in charge, except for a brave handful, acted abominably.
The actions of civilian administrators and military were confusing, shameful, panicky, uncoordinated, and hopelessly inept due to their unpreparedness.
As a result, it was not exactly a day which Australians wanted to commemorate in their history, but since a sufficient amount of time has passed and with only a handful of survivors from that day left alive, attitudes have changed and the day is finally recognized as important to Australia's history.
Although the rest of the world was quick to learn - within hours - of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the rest of Australia was not aware of the attack on the remote outpost of Darwin for days, and some for weeks.
This was due mainly to very poor systems of communications at the time. Darwin had no telephone and they simply relied on telegraph. Furthermore, the Australian government of the day kept mum on the raid for fear of widespread panic.
Adding to the disarray, air raid sirens sounded only after the first bombs rained down on Darwin which resulted in many unnecessary deaths since citizens were too late to take shelter.
In addition to this, Japanese aircraft pounded Darwin with far more bombs than Pearl Harbor sinking eight
vessels in the harbour, destroying 22 aircraft on the ground, levelling dozens of
buildings in the town, and killing 243 people.
Darwin was considered a strategic, military outpost by the Japanese and for the next eighteen months raids continued on it and many other parts of the Northern Territory.
In all, there were 96-plus, recorded aerial raids to the end of November, 1943.
It, therefore, seems not without purpose that President Barack Obama visited Darwin on its commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the raid and labelled it Australia's Pearl Harbor since Darwin and Honolulu have so much in common in their Second World War
history.
To cement the union, Obama and Australia's newly installed Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, signed a new defence treaty, but this time against terrorism originating in the Eastern Hemisphere.
One can imagine the outcry from this agreement.
Not all Australians are pleased with having 2,500 American marines posted on their island continent and, almost needless to say, China and Indonesia see it as a needless
provocation more than anything else.
Politics aside, those who fought and died in the Pacific War's other Pearl Harbor are finally getting the recognition they deserve.
