EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Eighty-three years ago today, on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese conducted a brazen surprise attack on the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, plunging the United States into four long years of war on two fronts.
Eighty-three years. That’s a long time. CNN is reporting that only 16 survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack are still with us.
As the World War II generation dies off inevitably, let’s take a few moments and remember that tragic and epoch-turning day.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said it was a “date that will live in infamy” in an address to the nation. The United States declared war on Imperial Japan and a few days later, Nazi Germany — Japan’s ally — declared war on the U.S.
That day marked the beginning of four long years of hardship and struggle on the battlefield and on the home front. My parents — who were children at the time — remember things like sugar and tires being rationed. My mom also says they had to turn out the lights at night in San Francisco for fear of a Japanese attack.
Newsday recently reported that in a survey of high-school students on Long Island, only a little more than half knew what Pearl Harbor signified.
According to the Pride of Maui website, 2,403 American lives were lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor. More than 1,100 of those lives were lost on the USS Arizona alone. A memorial has been built on top of the wreck of the USS Arizona, providing a spectacular and somber remembrance of that day.
Here is a website if you are interested in planning a visit to Pearl Harbor and what you need to know ahead of time.
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