Today is December 7th. It has been declared National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day to observe the deadliest attack against American soil up until 9/11.

I am the son of parents who served in and lived through World War II. I'm thankful that I had a chance to grow up under the 'Greatest Generation'. They were people who had come through the crippling Great Depression just a few years earlier. Then as the world burned under fascism, they were trying desperately to stay out of a war that would undoubtedly claim large numbers of American lives. Many of their parents had fought in WWI and had seen the carnage and slaughter of trench warfare. They had no desire to repeat it.

Then, on a beautiful Sunday morning in Hawaii, the drone of airplanes filled the sky, bombs fell, huge explosions began to rock Pearl Harbor and just like that, we were thrust into the war.

The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt stood before Congress and asked for a Declaration of War against the Empire of Japan and the Axis Powers. I would like you to reread the last sentence knowing that the President at that time was confined to a wheelchair. He stood and walked to the podium to deliver this address.

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, which is observed annually in the United States on December 7, is to remember and honor the 2,403 victims who were killed in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On August 23, 1994, United States Congress, by Pub.L. 103–308, designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is also referred to as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day or Pearl Harbor Day. It is a tradition to fly the Flag of the United States at half-staff until sunset in honor of dead patriots. - Wikipedia

Take a few moments to remember the terror that hit America that day and the resolve to totally and unequivocally defeat the enemy, that grew from it.

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