Pearl Harbor Day 2016: Facts About Attack 75 Years Ago By Japan On United States

Seventy-five years ago Wednesday, the United States was thrust into World War II after Japan carried out a deadly air attack on a U.S. Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Japanese fighters carried out the attack in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941, shocking the United States and the world at large. It was a devastating bombing. In total, 2,335 military personnel and 68 civilians were killed, according to the Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau. More than 1,000 were wounded. Some 20 naval vessels and 300 aircraft were destroyed. The USS Arizona, a massive battleship, was destroyed by an 1,800-pound bomb, which sunk the ship and killed the 1,177 people onboard.

The United States entered World War II the next day and President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered one of the most important speeches in U.S. history. "Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan," he said to open his remarks declaring a state of war to Congress.

After the speech, Congress quickly approved a resolution that recognized the United States was at war with Japan. The Senate approved 82-0, while the House of Representatives voted 388-1, the lone vote against war coming from a devout Montana pacifist. Just a few days later the country would also officially be at war with Germany and Italy, beginning the long four years the United States would spend fighting World War II.

Pearl Harbor Day is observed every year in the United States on Dec. 7 to remember the tragic day for Americans. The country at large and cities nationwide plan events aimed at honoring the Americans who lost their lives.

After the attack, the U.S. responded with the rallying cry, "Remember Pearl Harbor!" Seventy-five years later, some worry most Americans don't recognize the importance of Dec. 7, 1941. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, which once had some 30,000 members, disbanded five years ago when that figure dropped to some 3,000, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune this week.

"Let me tell you," Stuart Hedley, a 95-year-old survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack, told the Union-Tribune. "The majority of people today don’t even have the slightest idea what happened there."