Precisely 70 years ago the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II.  It was the beginning of four long years of American involvement in the war that had already engulfed the rest of the world for some years.

In his famous speech on December 8th, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called December 7th a “date which will live in infamy.”  Indeed, it does, much as September 11th is engraved on the minds of this most recent generation.  FDR spoke passionately and confidently:

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph — so help us God.

The single two-hour attack resulted in 15 Medals of Honor, five of which went to survivors.  This year, the ashes of two of the survivors, who died decades later, will be interred in their sunken ships, joining with their entombed shipmates.