Just as the words shared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt over 83 years ago predicted, spoken only one day after the unprovoked Japanese attack on the United States Military base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it still rings true that the day prior remains in eternal infamy. 

The history of America cannot be read about, taught or researched with the attack on Pearl Harbor near the top of the list of the most significant times in our short history.

That day remains among the many major and terrible events across the nation’s timeline, such as the burning down of the White House by the British armed forces in 1812, the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the hundreds of school shootings and in other public places, and countless others that leave the hearts and souls of Americans still bleeding, often without relief. 

But what makes Pearl Harbor so important is that American was brought into World War II because of the Japanese and certainly our county’s heroism and bold action turned the tide of what could have been a very different outcome.

America’s Greatest Generation stepped forward to fight against the German coalition and it is our valor that certainly led to a victory.

In this solemn time, we hold the events at Pearl Harbor, and the 2,403 people who perished at the forefront of our minds, and hold to the promise that even after over eight decades, the remembrance of those who died will “forever live” and does not flicker out.

As those guns have fallen silent, the dozens of battleships and aircraft remain in their watery resting place forever in reverence and the generation of men and women who remember it first hand slowly fade, please take a few minutes over the weekend to remember what was fought for, what was lost, and what was refined in those harrowing moments in 1941. 

You wouldn’t be alone in reflection. As the entire nation also prepares to observe the date tomorrow, we all should keep that message in our hearts and carry that term “infamy” further on – forever. 

With undeterable spirit, it would seem that all who live under the Stars and Stripes, no matter from what generation or general disposition, always take the time to mourn the worst outcomes that strike us, and then move forward to reforge it into something tangible; something strong; something hopeful. 

The sacrifices and losses that our military heroes suffered before us do indeed mean something, thanks to those who remember.