Today marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the Pearl Harbor Naval Station in Hawaii by the Japanese Air Force in 1941.

The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt went before a joint-session of the United States Congress and asked for a declaration of war against the Empire of Japan.  President Roosevelt famously called December 7, 1941 – a day that would live in infamy.

In a Presidential Declaration, President Biden said, “It was a day that still lives in infamy 80 years later.  As we mark National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we honor the patriots who perished, commemorate the valor of all those who defended our Nation, and recommit ourselves to carrying forth the ensuing peace and reconciliation that brought a better future for our world.  Today, we give thanks to the Greatest Generation, who guided our Nation through some of our darkest moments and laid the foundations of an international system that has transformed former adversaries into allies.”

Local veterans advocates Odell Anderson and former State Representative Barbara Massey Reece say that there are only ten World War II veterans surviving in Chattooga County now.