Published: 12/7/2012 - Updated: 5 months ago

A look back at Pearl Harbor

Photographs of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 at about 7:55 p.m.

Enlarge American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw in the background, during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Enlarge Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw ... ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sailors on a small boat rescue a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Enlarge Sailors on a small boat rescue a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese attack on ... ASSOCIATED PRESS

An image provided by the U.S. War Department made from a Japanese newsreel shows Japanese planes over Hawaii during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Enlarge An image provided by the U.S. War Department made from a Japanese newsreel shows Japanese planes over Hawaii during ... ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge Smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Officers' wives head to their quarters after investigating the sound of an explosion and seeing smoke in distance in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The two heard neighbor Mary Naiden, then an Army hostess who took this picture, exclaim

Enlarge Officers' wives head to their quarters after investigating the sound of an explosion and seeing smoke in distance in Pearl ... ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Japanese plane goes into its last dive as it heads toward the ground in flames after it was hit by Naval anti-aircraft fire during a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Enlarge A Japanese plane goes into its last dive as it heads toward the ground in flames after it was hit ... ASSOCIATED PRESS

The battleship USS West Virginia, center, begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, while the USS Maryland, left, is still afloat in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. The capsized USS Oklahoma is at right.

Enlarge The battleship USS West Virginia, center, begins to sink after suffering heavy damage, while the USS Maryland, left, is still ... ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge A Japanese Navy aerial view of smoking U.S. ships during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge People buy newspapers reporting the Japanese attack on U.S. bases in the Pacific Ocean, at Times Square in New York. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge President Franklin Roosevelt speaks to a joint session of Congress in Washington after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.... ASSOCIATED PRESS

Enlarge Young Japanese-Americans, including several Army selectees, gather around a reporter's car in the Japanese section of San Francisco.... ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ruth Lee, a hostess at a Chinese restaurant, flies a Chinese flag so she isn't mistaken for Japanese when she sunbathes on her days off in Miami, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lee was born in the U.S.

Enlarge Ruth Lee, a hostess at a Chinese restaurant, flies a Chinese flag so she isn't mistaken for Japanese when she ... ASSOCIATED PRESS

A small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 during World War II. Two men can be seen on the superstructure, upper center. The mast of the USS Tennessee is beyond the burning West Virginia. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese Imperial Navy navigator Takeshi Maeda guided his Kate bomber to Pearl Harbor and fired a torpedo that helped sink the USS West Virginia. President Barack Obama on Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 issued a proclamation declaring Dec. 7 a day of remembrance in honor of the 2,400 Americans who died at Pearl Harbor. He urged federal agencies, organizations and others to fly their flags at half-staff.

Enlarge A small boat rescues a USS West Virginia crew member from the water after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor,... ASSOCIATED PRESS

A look back at Pearl Harbor

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