The day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt said would live infamy, still does 71 years later and surprisingly it took Congress 53 years after the bombing to declare December 7th as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, but we don't need a national declaration to bring this tragic day to mind. Here's some ideas on how to observe the anniversary of this tragic day.

Touchstone Pictures
Touchstone Pictures
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Being that this is not a federal holiday, schools and businesses stay open on Friday but there are other ways to show your support for the patriots that gave their lives that day. If you have a U.S. flag flying at your home or business, it is customary to fly it at half mast. If you're up for a road trip, the 71st Annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony will be held at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond at 11am, December 7th. Of course Hawaii is a great destination year-round, but what better time to do so than now given the occasion and that we are now in wintery weather here in Central New York. The entire besieged area in Pearl Harbor has been turned into a national monument called the World War II Valor In The Pacific and one of the most popular features of the park is of course the USS Arizona Memorial which can only be  fed visitors by boat a few at a time so get your tickets ahead of time otherwise you'll have to settle for seeing it from shore.

Wikipedia Commons
Wikipedia Commons
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If a trip is out of the question, there are sure to be local events which we will update you on once they become publicized and if you are holding a memorial or know of a group that is, please comment below so we can include it. To get you in the spirit, here's Michael Bay's 2001 Pearl Harbor offering in it's entirety... Love stories may not be your thing, but airplanes and intense visuals might be as war veterans who defended Pearl Harbor and saw the film said the bombing sequences were extremely true-to-life and emotional. Besides movie fiction, if you do nothing else this December 7th, be sure to catch Live Pearl Harbor coverage on TV to remember all of the 2,400+ American heroes that fell and another 1,200+ that became wounded for life that fateful day, the better part of a century ago.

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