National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day and World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument

On December 7, 1941, Japanese military planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. The attack killed more than 2,000 American military personnel and many civilians. This Saturday, December 7, 2013, is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day pursuant to 36 U.S.C. §129. This statute requests that the President issue a proclamation asking the people of the United States to observe this day with ceremonies and activities, and United States governmental units and others to fly the United States flag at halfstaff in honor of those who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor. In Yankton, the Elks Lodge will hold a "Remembering Pearl Harbor" event on Saturday evening, with a presentation of "The Sleeping Giant Awakens" by University of South Dakota Law School Professor Roger Baron.


To coincide with the recognition of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in 2008, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation establishing the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument pursuant to his authority under 16 U.S.C. §431 (the "Antiquities Act"). This Monument encompasses nine historic sites in three states. Five of the sites are in Pearl Harbor, including the USS ARIZONA Memorial and Visitor Center, the USS UTAH Memorial, the USS OKLAHOMA Memorial, the six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and mooring quays F6, F7, and F8 which constituted part of Battleship Row. Three sites are in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, including the crash sites of a Consolidated B-24D Liberator bomber on Atka Island, the site of Japan's occupation on Kiska Island, and the Attu Island battle ground. The ninth site is the Japanese-American internment camp at Tule Lake in California.