The high-stakes gamble and false assumptions that detonated Pearl Harbor 75 years ago

“The dawn watch had been as pacific as the ocean at their feet. Rousted by an alarm clock, Pvts. George E. Elliott Jr. and Joseph L. Lockard had awakened in their tent at 3:45 in the caressing warmth of an Oahu night and gotten their radar fired up and scanning 30 minutes later. Radar was still in its infancy, far from what it would become, but the privates could still spot things farther out than anyone ever had with mere binoculars or telescope.”

Source: How (Almost) Everyone Failed to Prepare for Pearl Harbor | History | Smithsonian