Pearl Harbor Day Observance: How Attack Unfolded 70 Years Ago (PHOTOS)

Seventy years ago on Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on America’s naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that drew the U.S. into World War II.

The aerial bombing killed more than 2,400 Americans, sunk 12 ships and destroyed 188 aircraft. President Franklin Roosevelt had at that time referred to the attack as, “A date which will live in infamy.”

Now seventy years after the attack, thousands of people, including about 120 survivors, will pay their respects to the Americans who died in the bombing on the Hawaiian island of Oahu at 7:55 a.m. — the time at which the attack had begun seven decades ago. More than 3,000 people are expected to attend the memorial ceremony.

President Barack Obama paid tribute to the Americans killed in the Pearl Harbor bombing, in Washington on Tuesday. As a nation, we look to December 7, 1941 to draw strength from the example set by these patriots and to honour all who have sacrificed for our freedoms, Obama said.

The USS Oklahoma Memorial Executive Committee will dedicate a memorial marker at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu Wednesday, LA Times reported.

The remains of the 335 USS Oklahoma sailors are buried in graves at the National Memorial Cemetery and the marker will be dedicated in memory of the sailors killed during the attack.