SATURDAY December 7, 2019
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!
2 Samuel 1:25
On August 23, 1994, the United States Congress designated December 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Today is the 78th anniversary of the surprise, aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, a naval base on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii.
The Japanese, who anticipated that the United States would enter into World War II, sent about 200 aircraft in a wave of attacks which killed 2,403 service members and civilians. In the attack another 1,178 were injured, two Navy Battleships sank, the USS Arizona and the USS Utah, and a total of 188 aircraft were destroyed.
December 8, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan. The President gave a resilient speech condemning the surprise attack:
Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy… no matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory… with the confidence in our armed forces –with the unbounding determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, commemorates the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
We resolve that our strength, our vigilance, and our devotion will forever keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave. We resolve that we will keep faith with those we have loved and lost. And we resolve that, always, we will remember Pearl Harbor.
~Ronald Reagan~
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