Original Item: Only One Available. The islands of Hawaii lay situated 2,000 miles southwest of the North American mainland in the center of the Pacific Ocean. The Kingdom of Hawaii was sovereign from 1810 through 1893 until annexed by the United States of America as the Territory of Hawaii. The eight main islands of Hawaii: Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Maui and the "Big Island" of Hawaii were home to the United States Pacific Fleet, Hawaiian Division and Pacific Army Air Corps. During the 1920's and 1930's Oahu Hawaii blossomed with military activity. Sailors and Marines trained and sailed from the Naval port of Pearl Harbor and flew seaplanes from Ford Island, Ewa and Kaneohe Bay.

Airmen maintained and flew aircraft from Hickam, Wheeler and Bellows Field. Artillery and Infantrymen of Schofield Barracks trained in gunnery. New state of the art technology was introduced in Hawaii to include the B-17 Flying Fortress and the Opana Radar Station.

For most Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen, Hawaii was a Pacific duty station of paradise. On a quiet Sunday Morning on December 7th 1941 it all changed.

This 1941 Hawaii license plate was for a regular passenger vehicle, not a truck and we believe was a vehicle that operated in and around Honolulu. This civilian vehicle license is marked:

HAWAII 1941
A 5935.

This plate was issued for a civilian passenger car. In 1939, Hawaiian license plates were changed from a five digit numbering system that related to each of the four counties of Hawaii to a single letter and four number system. Beginning in 1940, all civilian trucks used license plates with five digits without letters. The four counties that license plates were issued were Honolulu County, Hawaii County, Maui County and Kauai.

The original colors of this license plate are still visible and are red letters and numbers on a gray background for 1941 only. 1940 Hawaii license plates were black letters and numbers on a yellow background and 1942 Hawaii license plates were white letters and numbers on a black background. From 1943 to 1945, window stickers were issued for vehicle registration. No 1943, 1944 or 1945 dated Hawaiian license plates were made.

The plate remains in great condition and retains most of the original paint with some wear to the letters. The plate is approximately 12 ½” x 6 ¼” . The plate is definitely a reminder of the attacks at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941. A plate in this condition with original paint is rather difficult to come by due to the fact individuals wanted the colors to stand out more when displayed. This is perfect the way it is and will look absolutely lovely in you WWII American homefront collections.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00, on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The United States was a neutral country at the time; the attack led to its formal entry into World War II the next day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.

Japan intended the attack as a preventive action. Its aim was to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and those of the United States. Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island and the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time (18:18 GMT). The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft (including fighters, level and dive bombers, and torpedo bombers) in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. Of the eight U.S. Navy battleships present, all were damaged, with four sunk. All but USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, dry dock, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. Kazuo Sakamaki, the commanding officer of one of the submarines, was captured.

Japan announced declarations of war on the United States and the British Empire later that day (December 8 in Tokyo), but the declarations were not delivered until the following day. The British government declared war on Japan immediately after learning that their territory had also been attacked, while the following day (December 8) the United States Congress declared war on Japan. On December 11, though they had no formal obligation to do so under the Tripartite Pact with Japan, Germany and Italy each declared war on the U.S., which responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy. There were numerous historical precedents for the unannounced military action by Japan, but the lack of any formal warning, particularly while peace negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was later judged in the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.

It’s no secret that the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, which killed more than 2,000 Americans, changed the course of history for the United States and the rest of the world.

But it also dramatically altered the identity of the island paradise of Hawaii, changing everyday life for the people who lived there and bringing tourism, one of the islands’ most important industries, to a halt. Hours after the attack, Hawaii, a U.S. territory at the time, was placed under martial law, and all of the islands’ residents were under the dictatorship of the U.S. military.

Since Japanese-Americans made up 37 percent of Hawaii’s population, it was impossible for the military to incarcerate all of them, Brown told The Huffington Post. Instead, all residents of Hawaii — white, Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese — were forced to live under strict military rule. After all, Japanese-American residents had long-established themselves in Hawaii as business owners, teachers and community leaders. Without them, Brown added, Hawaii’s economy would have collapsed.

Under martial law, life in Hawaii became dramatically restricted, according to Brown. Immediately after the attack, civilians were mandated by the military to dig holes for makeshift bomb shelters and were ordered to place barbed wire around everything, including beaches, water pumping stations, electrical installations and government buildings.

While they were free to live their normal lives during the day, Hawaii residents were forced to black out their windows, and a curfew banned civilians from being outside at night.

All electricity was required to be shut off after sundown, and the military enforced the curfew every night. Any unauthorized civilian out after hours faced the risk of being shot. If civilians were permitted to drive after-hours for official purposes, they were required to paint their cars’ headlights black.

Food on the island was rationed to families. There was a ban on liquor, and bars were shuttered. Waikiki’s iconic beachfront hotels, once thriving with tourists and affluent locals, were closed to the public and taken over by the military.

The military even banned Hawaii civilians from taking photographs of any of the islands’ coastlines (to prevent the Japanese from finding points of entries) and anything with war- or military-related imagery. As a result, officials reviewed and confiscated any photographs that contained barbed wire, beaches or military bases.

The harsh military rule in Hawaii ended nearly three years after the Pearl Harbor attacks, but the islands were forever changed.