MONDAY December 7, 2020

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. The aerial attack on Pearl Harbor, a naval base on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii, began just before 8:00am, Sunday morning. Japanese fighter planes filled the sky. They rained down bombs and bullets on the ships and planes secured below.

The Japanese, who anticipated that the United States would enter into World War II, decided to attack an easy target, as it was relatively undefended. No one thought an attack on the distant Islands of Hawaii would be possible. The unsuspected attack killed about 2,403 sailors, soldiers and civilians. About 1,000 more were left wounded.

The USS Arizona Battleship took a direct hit; an 1,800 pound bomb smashed through its deck into the forward ammunition magazine. It exploded, sank and took 1,000 men trapped inside to a watery grave. The USS Utah was also sunk, and more than 300 aircraft were destroyed.

On 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

Teach your children and grandchildren about the history of Pearl Harbor and be resolved to keep America free.

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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