Sunday is the 73rd anniversary of the sneak Japanese attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, but the day now is marked with little fanfare.
In 1941, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt declared the December 7 attack as "a date which will live in infamy," with the U.S. declaring war on Japan a day later and entering World War II. More than 2,400 American sailors and others were killed in the attack on what is now a U.S. island state in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
President Barack Obama issued a proclamation declaring Sunday as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, recalling that the Greatest Generation sent millions of Americans into war "to make the world safer, freer, and more just."
But he did not plan to attend any ceremonies commemorating the day. A wreath is being laid at Pearl Harbor, with survivors recalling the Sunday morning attack.
Now, Japan is a staunch U.S. ally and there are a fast-dwindling number of aging American veterans who fought in World War Two, just one million of the 16 million who served.
