Who said remember pearl harbor

That is our part today, 78 years later — to look back with awe at ordinary people becoming extraordinary and to personally thank, if possible, that shrinking number of individuals who were there when death fell from the sky. In his speech to Congress and the nation on Dec. There was no equivocation in those words, despite the fact that much of the U. Navy had been destroyed because Roosevelt counted on the strength of the American people.

There is much that divides us today — some of it is of consequence, and some of it is merely the result of too little generational sacrifice, a lack of understanding of what is and is not important.

Freedom is important. We owe ours today to the heroes of Pearl Harbor and to the heroes of the battles that would follow. We remember them. If they had been on the lookout as they should have been, it should never have happened. But it did, and the country was so shocked.

I remember the day of Pearl Harbor very clearly. A couple of days afterward, my husband received a phone call from Leo Szilard, asking if he would come to Chicago to help with an effort that would have an effect on the war. This was at Christmastime, just after Pearl Harbor. We packed up, right away, that January, and moved to Chicago. George Allen: We went to New Orleans that morning in the car, just driving around. About in the morning, the radio was going, and it broke in and announced [the attack].

I thought it was some sort of a drama they were putting on it, but it was not, of course. On the way back home, there were servicemen lined along the highway trying to get back to their bases, and we picked up four of them. We were having lunch. I remember news coming on the radio that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, and we were at war.

Of course, my grandmother and my mother and everybody started crying, only because my uncle was at that age of being able to be inducted into the service. He did, and unfortunately, he went through some real hard times. Just before 8 a. During the attack, which was launched from aircraft carriers, nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, were damaged or destroyed, as well as more than aircraft, according to the History Channel.

The official American death toll was 2,, according to the Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau, including 2, Navy personnel, Marines, Army service members and 68 civilians. Of the dead, 1, were from the USS Arizona, the wreckage of which now serves as the main memorial to the incident. Fifty-five Japanese soldiers also were killed.

The total number of wounded was 1,, including Navy, 69 Marines, and Army and civilians, the Visitors Bureau says. Until the raid, the U. A quarter is left by those who were there when the fallen sailor or soldier lost his life. A far less-known memorial on the other side of Ford Island honors the USS Utah , which was also sunk on December 7, , with a loss of 58 men killed.

Because a neighborhood of military families on the base parallels this waterfront, this memorial is much less frequently visited. Our guide told me a story while standing on the pier.