Remaining Pearl Harbor survivors, veterans, and visitors from throughout the world will gather in Hawaii this Thursday to honor and remember the 2,403 service members and civilians killed during a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Another 1,178 were injured in the attack, which permanently sank two U.S. Navy battleships and destroyed 188 aircraft. 

The attack initiated four years of ferocious battles in Europe and the Pacific that had far-reaching international consequences. Such consequences live even today. Valiant service members returning from those battles and no longer able to see included the founding members of BVA who formally gathered in early 1945 to institutionalize their efforts to create a better life for themselves and their families through their new organization.

On August 23, 1994, the U.S. Congress designated December 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. As such, remembrance events are held at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial on and around that date, culminating in a commemoration ceremony on December 7. For a list of the 2023 remembrance events, click here. Links to videos of events and ceremonies in recent years are available here.