On August 23, 1994, the United States Congress designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. On November 29, President Bill Clinton issued a proclamation declaring December 7, 1994, the first National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service attacked the United States at Naval Station Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii, killing 2,403 Americans and injuring 1,178 others. The attack sank four U.S. Navy battleships and damaged four others. It also damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer. Aircraft losses were 188 destroyed and 159 damaged.
“December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously proclaimed.
The strike signaled the entry of the United States into World War II.
