Day of ‘Infamy’ Remembered In Scaled Back Commemoration In Hawaii

Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack. View looks about east, with the supply depot, submarine base and fuel tank farm in the right center distance. A torpedo has just hit USS West Virginia on the far side of Ford Island (center). Other battleships moored nearby are (from left): Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inboard of West Virginia), Oklahoma (torpedoed and listing) alongside Maryland, and California. On the near side of Ford Island, to the left, are light cruisers Detroit and Raleigh, target and training ship Utah and seaplane tender Tangier. Raleigh and Utah have been torpedoed, and Utah is listing sharply to port. Japanese planes are visible in the right center (over Ford Island) and over the Navy Yard at right. U.S. Navy planes on the seaplane ramp are on fire. Japanese writing in the lower right states that the photograph was reproduced by authorization of the Navy Ministry.

Dec 7. 1941, “a date which will live in infamy,” will be remembered today for more reasons than President Franklin Roosevelt might have imagined when he uttered those words in seeking a declaration of war against Imperial Japan for its surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Fleet and military forces stationed at Pearl Harbor.

Indeed, for many, Dec. 7 marks the day before the United States formally entered World War II against the Empire of Japan, a bloody conflict that would eventually claim 111,606 American lives and wound 253,142 others. Japanese losses were staggering in comparison: an estimated 1.74 million people were killed or missing, and 94,000 were wounded. The conflict ultimately led to the use of nuclear weapons for the first and only time since their development, an infamous act in its own right that finally ended the war.

For others still, specifically Japanese Americans, already suffering extreme racial prejudice, Dec. 7 foreshadowed the day when all that they had worked for was lost when U.S. forces the following February began the process of imprisoning entire families at internment camps for the duration of the war.

Each year on Dec. 7, NPR reports, Pearl Harbor survivors, veterans, and visitors from all over the world come together to honor and remember the 2,403 service members and civilians who were killed during the Pearl Harbor attack. A further 1,178 people were injured in the attack, which permanently sank two U.S. Navy battleships (the USS Arizona and the USS Utah) and destroyed 188 aircraft.
On Aug. 23, 1994, Congress designated Dec. 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, during which remembrance events are held at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

This year’s Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration’s theme, “Above and Beyond the Call,” represents a milestone of its own, as the first Dec. 7 commemoration to follow the nationwide commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in 1945.

This year’s ceremony will focus on Battlefield O`ahu. Though the Japanese Empire focused on the destruction of the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, the attack encompassed the entire island with assaults on Army and Marine aviation bases as well as civilian facilities.

As Roosevelt noted in his Dec. 8 call for war before Congress, Japanese forces attacked not only Hawaii, but almost simultaneously went after Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippine Islands, Wake Island, and, only hours before Roosevelt spoke, Midway Island.

The experiences of the soldiers, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and sailors defending O`ahu, as well as the civilians caught in the crossfire, would exemplify courage under fire and perseverance.

In order to protect Pearl Harbor survivors and World War II veterans in attendance from COVID-19, this year’s ceremony will be closed to the public, according to The Associated Press.

The ceremony was set to begin at 7:50 a.m. at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial’s Contemplation Circle in Hawaii. A small number of veterans will be in attendance onsite, Hawaii News Now reported.

A moment of silence will be observed at 7:55 a.m., the time when the Japanese attack on the American naval base began in 1941.

“America’s obligation to honor its veterans has been a sacrosanct pillar of our society, and we encourage everyone to join us virtually for this important ceremony,” said Scott Burch, acting superintendent of Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

This event will be live-streamed for public viewing via our Facebook page and www.pearlharborevents.com. The Pearl Harbor Visitor Center will reopen to the public for visitation at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 with USS Arizona Memorial Programs resuming and running every 30 minutes from noon to 3 p.m.