December 7, 1941 will forever be known as the “Day of Infamy“. It’s been 68 years since the Pearl Harbor attack – the day 2,402 servicemen and women were killed and left 1,282 wounded.

The Pearl Harbor Day attack was meant to be preventative and keep the US out of the war. Two aerial attach waves were launched by the Japanese. Four US Navy battleships were sunk. Four more battleships were damaged. Two were later raised and returned to serve in the war.

The attack brought the US into the war against the major axis powers – Japan, Germany, and Italy and triggered the mass production of war materials that helped lift the US out of the “Great Depression”. The Japanese  Admiral Yamamoto who was in command of the Japanese Fleet said “It seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.”

Today the USS Arizona Memorial is a place to remember Pearl Harbor Day and visit the final resting place of many of the 1177 crew members of the battleship who lost their lives on December 7, 1941.

(via Gather.com)