US marks Pearl Harbor anniversary
Pearl Harbor survivors observe the US Naval Sea Cadets Concert Band of the West perform at the Pearl Harbor Visitor's Center during Kama'aina and military appreciation day on Sunday. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor in which more than 2 400 people died. Pearl Harbor survivors observe the US Naval Sea Cadets Concert Band of the West perform at the Pearl Harbor Visitor's Center during Kama'aina and military appreciation day on Sunday. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor in which more than 2 400 people died.
Washington - Elderly veterans and officials on Wednesday remembered the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the US Navy's base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which prompted the United States' entry into World War 2.
Ceremonies were being held at the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu, where the sunken remains of the ship can still be seen just below the surface of the water as a silent reminder of the attack.
“Seventy years ago today, a bright Sunday morning was darkened by the unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor,” President Barack Obama said in a statement from the White House.
“Today, Michelle and I join the American people in honouring the memory of the more than 2 400 American patriots - military and civilian, men, women and children - who gave their lives in our first battle of the Second World War.”
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dubbed December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy”, and the US Congress issued a declaration of war against Japan, drawing the US into the war that had already been raging for years in Europe and Asia.
The attack killed 2 402 US sailors, Marines, soldiers and civilians and wounded more than 1 280 others. It also damaged or destroyed more than a dozen ships and hundreds of aircraft.
“We salute the veterans and survivors of Pearl Harbor who inspire us still,” Obama said. “Despite overwhelming odds, they fought back heroically, inspiring our nation and putting us on the path to victory.”
Obama called on Americans to also honour recent veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, as the US brings home its last troops from Iraq this month. - Sapa-dpa