Day of Infamy

Cadet Howie Johnson read the names of each sailor, soldier or civilian who died during the Japanese attack on the American naval base Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

The Navarre High School NJROTC honored the victims of that day which President Franklin Roosevelt later said was a day that would live in infamy. The attacks occurred shortly before 8 a.m. on a quiet Sunday morning. Two hours later, more than 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded, 350 aircraft were destroyed and the eight battleships that comprised the U.S. Pacific Fleet was sunk or badly damaged. The U.S.S. Arizona remains sunken in Pearl Harbor and is now a memorial to that day.  

A nation that had previously been reluctant to join another war united and entered WWII, helping the Allies defeat the Axis forces. On Sept. 2, 1945 Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese government on board the U.S.S. Missouri.