NYT: Pearl Harbor Still a Day for the Ages, but a Memory Almost Gone

Poignantly sad. My parents among those now dead.

From the NYT.

For more than half a century, members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association gathered here every Dec. 7 to commemorate the attack by the Japanese that drew the United States into World War II. Others stayed closer to home for more intimate regional chapter ceremonies, sharing memories of a day they still remember in searing detail.

But no more. The 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack will be the last one marked by the survivors’ association. With a concession to the reality of time — of age, of deteriorating health and death — the association will disband on Dec. 31.

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Remember Pearl Harbor

This act of egregious treachery occurred 70 years ago today. It reminds us why we must remain vigilant in an ever-increasingly dangerous world and why we must not develop historical amnesia. Pearl Harbor also gives us a chance to stop and remember the generation, now largely gone, who stepped up to defend our democratic way of life against the unspeakable evil of fascism.

From the History Channel:

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

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