National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
2 min read
By Landon Bennett
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is celebrated on December 7th and it is used for a day to remember the tragic attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941. On that fateful day hundreds of Japanese pilots had crashed and bombed into the harbor destroying or damaging nearly 20 vessels. They destroyed 8 battleships, over 300 airplanes, more than 2,400 Americans died (including civilians) and left over 1000 injured. The day after the attack President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan.
Pearl Harbor is located in Hawaii and had a monument built in May 30, 1962. The monument was built over the sunken battleship “USS Arizona”. This holiday is to be celebrated every year due to the respect and empathy for everyone involved in not only that attack but the war itself. The day should be celebrated by flying the flag at half-staff until sunset to commemorate those who’ve lost their lives on that day. This day is to not only show all of that towards the fallen ones and our country but also to look at how it didn’t go as bad as it could have with more lives lost. The Japanese people didn’t entirely decimate pearl harbor, there were still fueling stations, oil facilities, drydocks, and other important reservoirs. Due to them not hitting the right targets it wasn’t the worst of the worst outcome.
A quote from Ms. Shoen was “It was significant and sad. It was the first time war was on our land. It was very traumatic for not only the men and women that were killed, but also realizing the impact no matter where you were at (geographically)”.
Mr. Ingram said “I feel that it is important to take the time to remember and inform people about Pearl Harbor. I believe as citizens we get caught up in our everyday life (work, relationships, family, hobbies, etc.) and that we are very fortunate that we are able to focus on those things; a large conflict with another nation has the potential to shift all citizens focus elsewhere, and we are living through times of heightened tensions with our adversaries.
