Dec 7 is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

On August 23rd, 1994, the United State Congress designated December 7th as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. 

This year, National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day lands on a Wednesday. On this day, every year, survivors, veterans, and visitors of Pearl Harbor come together to remember and honor the 2,403 service members and civilians who were killed during the Japanese attack 81 years ago. 

Senior Olivia Schmidt at Arrowhead said, “I feel like they only teach about Pearl Harbor when you’re younger or in your US history class. They don’t really bring it up ever in other classes or daily life.”

A further 1,178 people were injured during the attack and two U.S. naval battleships (the USS Arizona and USS Utah) were sunk. An additional 188 aircraft were taken down along with the ships. 

Sophia Hirschfeld, another senior at Arrowhead said, “I know that it was a surprise attack that Japan made on the US during WWII. A lot of people were killed and it affected the decisions the US made later in the war. We also lost a lot of aircrafts and ships. A lot of families were left brotherless, fatherless–just without family or friends they lost.”

Last year, the 80th commemoration ceremony of the attack was hosted by the National Park Service and the U.S. Navy at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. With support from Pacific Historic Parks, the NPS (National Park Service) and Navy Region Hawaii hosted the ceremony on December 7th, 2021 at the base’s Kilo Pier. 

“I personally didn’t know anyone that was involved in the attack. However I know that there are many veterans and victims of the attack because it was so big,” said senior Trinity Dahl. 

The seating at Kilo Pier was invitation only for the health and safety of the veterans, however the NPS at Pearl Harbor National Memorial had a live stream going of the ceremony from the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center Lawn. 

“I feel like people should be more aware of the remembrance day. In middle school we heard about it a lot more than now–now I feel like it’s just brushed over,” said Dahl.