In infamy

I usually don’t wander into the twentieth century, either on this blog or in my own personal interests, but it seems remiss not to give a nod to the seventieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  If you’ve got some time to do a little virtual commemoration, here are some links worth checking out:

• A contemporary news report.
• The National Archives offers a look at the crafting of Roosevelt’s Dec. 8 speech, one of those examples of American rhetoric that still packs a wallop.
• The Naval History & Heritage Command has an annotated collection of images online.
• National Geographic offers a multimedia presentation.
• The National Park Service commemorates significant locations from the Pacific War.  I visited the Arizona Memorial as a kid, over twenty years ago.  To this day, it remains the starkest, most outstanding thing I remember about that trip to Hawaii.
• A report on today’s commemorative events in Hawaii.
• Finally, and sadly, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is disbanding at the end of the year, due to ever-dwindling numbers.