The 83rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor will be commemorated Saturday aboard the Battleship USS Iowa, with H. Delano Roosevelt, grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, sharing insights into the "Day of Infamy" that prompted the United States to go from neutral to Allied leader in World War II.
The event will take place from 10:30 a.m. to noon and is free to the public. The retired battleship, 250 S. Harbor Blvd., is docked in San Pedro, and parking -- free for the first hour and $2 an hour after that -- is adjacent to the WWII-era vessel and museum.
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Along with the keynote address delivered by Roosevelt, who is CEO of the National Council of US-Arab Relations, patriotic music and recollections from three WWII veterans will be featured.
Among them, WWII veteran Lloyd Glick -- a 101-year-old USS Iowa volunteer -- will provide a historical overview of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Glick, who served more than two years aboard the USS North Carolina during the war, took part in a dozen major battles in the Pacific.
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Attendees will pay homage to those who made the ultimate sacrifice that day.
More than 2,400 U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines died defending the Hawaiian naval base from Imperial Japanese attackers in a two-hour air assault. The following day, Dec. 8, 1941, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, which led to the Axis powers uniformly declaring war on the U.S., marking the nation's official entry into WWII.
Just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese torpedo bombers, dive bombers and fighters -- altogether numbering more than 350 aircraft -- arrived in two waves, permanently sinking two battleships, the USS Arizona and Utah at Pearl.
The Arizona's losses totaled 1,177 -- the highest of any ship in the harbor. Most of the military vessels that went down in the surprise attack were resurrected and deployed to fight again.
Bellows, Hickam and Wheeler airfields were also bombed, as were the installations at Ewa, Ford Island and Kaneohe Bay, sustaining major damage.
Imperial Japan carried out the attack in an attempt to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet as it sought domination over much of Asia.
Commissioned in 1943, the USS Iowa is the last class of battleships in the world. She was built to be heavily armored and fast to fight the Axis powers in the war.
During her service in WWII, Korea and the Cold War, she earned 11 battle stars and made history as one of the last great battleships to see service. Owned and operated by the Pacific Battleship Center, the USS Iowa is transitioning to national museum status as the National Museum of the Surface Navy at the Battleship Iowa to open on the 250th birthday of the U.S. Navy in 2025.
H. Delano Roosevelt was born in Los Angeles and is the grandson of the 32nd U.S. president and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and the son of James Roosevelt, FDR's first-born son. He is also a descendant of President Theodore Roosevelt.
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