Veterans from Santa Clarita are remembering the events of Pearl Harbor, the attack that served as the catalyst for America’s entrance into World War II, 78 years later.

On Dec. 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack against the Pearl Harbor base in Oahu, Hawaii.

More than 2,400 American troops died on the day of the attack, and a significant number of U.S. battleships and airplanes were destroyed. 

Today, Santa Clarita remembers the strike.

“I served with a lot of Pearl Harbor survivors,” said Richard Ramsey, U.S. Navy veteran, in a previous story. “By the time they were warned that the attack was going to happen, they had already been hit.”

Though he did not personally experience the attack, Ramsey served onboard the USS Nevada, one of the few battleships to survive the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

“At the time the whole country was ready to fight,” Ramsey said of the aftermath. “Everybody pulled together.”

The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to the events in a speech to Congress as a “sneak attack.”

“Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 — a day which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan,” Roosevelt said at the time.

The attack on Pearl Harbour launched the United States into joining World War II, which had been raging in other parts of the world since 1939.

“Pearl Harbor was a significant day in my life,” said U.S. Air Force veteran Lee Shulman, board member of the Santa Clarita Veterans Collaborative, in a previous story. “I value my experience in the military, I feel like I grew up and went from being a high school sophomore to being a man.”

Pearl Harbor has held weight for later generations as well, truly living up to its name as “a day that will live in infamy.”

“My dad served in WWII in the South Pacific, and I, along with so many of my pals had dads who served,” said Bill Reynolds, KHTS director of veteran affairs. “We figured it was our patriotic duty. Many of my generations are products of war and we were called, so we went.”

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