December 7 - Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in the U.S.A.

Posted on December 7, 2021

Key Points

This is an update of my post published on December 7, 2010:

December 7, 1941, a “date which will live in infamy,” Japanese fighter pilots launched a deadly surprise attack on Hawaii. About 2,400 U.S. service men and women were killed, and more than a thousand were injured, as the naval base at Pearl Harbor was bombed. Four battleships were sunk, and aircraft, cruisers, destroyers, a training ship, and a minelayer ship were either sunk or damaged.

The attack brought the U.S. into World War II, allies with England, France, and Russia and other nations in the world, fighting against Japan, Germany, and Italy.

The Remembrance Day is celebrated with observances and services, concerts and dinners.

Some of these observances take place on the USS Arizona Memorial, which spans the sunken hull of the battleship on which 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors were killed.

The National Park Service maintains the memorial, and more than one million people visit every year. When I went to the memorial, years ago, a large group of Japanese tourists was there with flowers and paper cranes to honor the dead.