Seventy years ago the nation remembered Pearl Harbor for the first time in peace time. Japan was now conquered, our troops occupying it. Pearl Harbor had been avenged many fold. It would perhaps have seemed that it was time to relegate the Pearl Harbor attack to the pages of History, but such has not been the case. Spurred on by the families of the men who were murdered that day in the sneak attack, Pearl Harbor has been remembered each year. As the World War II generation began passing from the scene, Congress passed on August 23, 1994 an act designating each December 7th as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Only a handful of Pearl Harbor survivors remain with us, but still news stories, blog posts and other events mark the day and it is fitting that this is done. The heroism of the Americans who fought at Pearl Harbor should be remembered, along with the terrible price that a nation can pay when it puts its guard down in the face of an aggressive would be adversary.
