Patriots Point to mark Pearl Harbor anniversary with memorial service

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Eighty years after the empire of Japan launched an attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Patriots Point will hold a memorial service to honor those lost.

The service, which was organized with the help of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10624, will begin at 11 a.m. It will honor the 25 known South Carolinians killed during the attack.

The service will feature a wreath-laying, tolling of a bell and a traditional gun salute.

Museum admission is being waived from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. for the service.

Survivors, veterans to gather to mark anniversary in Hawaii

Meanwhile, at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, approximately 30 srvivors and 100 other veterans of the war were expected to participate in a ceremony at a pier overlooking the USS Arizona Memorial.

They will observe a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the same minute the attack began.

The Japanese used more than 350 aircraft during the hour-and-15-minute attack, which killed 2,403, including 2,335 U.S. service members and 68 civilians. More than 300 U.S. aircraft and 19 Navy ships were destroyed or damaged.

The United States declared war on Japan the day later after President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress. In that famous address, he called Dec. 7, 1941, “a day which will live in infamy.”

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