This is a 1939 portrait of my grandfather, Paul Wright Gill, upon his graduating from the US Naval Academy.
On the morning of December 7, 1941 he was the torpedo officer, first lieutenant, aboard the USS Monaghan. They were ordered to get underway as the surprise Japanese attack began. They immediately sighted a Japanese sub at the mouth of the harbor and they rammed it and dropped depth charges on it.
Here is the after-action report: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/archives/digital-exhibits-highlights/action-reports/wwii-pearl-harbor-attack/ships-m-r/uss-monaghan-dd-354-action-report.html and a narrative if events: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/uss-monaghan-dd-354-pearl-harbor.
He would marry his hometown sweetheart while on leave in February 1942, and later have a family and distinguished career after the war.
Two thousand and three Americans lost their lives that day and our world was forever changed. History is not that far removed from the present.