Only about 1,500 survivors remain of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which will be commemorated Wednesday at the 75th anniversary.
It was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who said the day “will live in infamy” because “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
“There was just all this death and destruction all around me, bodies floating in the water, sunken ships, all of it. But we did the best we could,” survivor Earl “Chuck” Kohler, then a seaman 1st class at Pearl Harbor, told California’s East Bay Times.
And while the day is remembered, relations between the two countries have been largely repaired.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced he’ll visit the site with President Obama on Dec. 27.
Abe pacified would-be critics of his visit by pledging not to apologize for the Japanese attack, which took more than 2,400 lives.
His visit — the first by a Japanese leader — is reciprocation for Obama’s visit to Hiroshima earlier this year.