On this day 70 years ago, the course of American history — world history, actually — was changed when the Empire of Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan’s bold strike on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, succeeded in bringing America into World War II, a conflict that drastically reshaped the world’s balance of power.

It’s an event many of us only read about in history books or see on television when we come across a documentary on History (formerly The History Channel). It’s worth taking a moment, however, to reflect on the attack’s effects, both immediate and far-reaching, and to remember those who perished on that Sunday morning seven decades ago.

Area residents, young and old alike, will participate in events to mark the attack on Pearl Harbor. The South Kitsap High School marching band will perform today in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade and Salute in Hawaii. Closer to home, the Naval Undersea Warfare Division in Keyport will hold its 18th annual “Lest We Forget” event at 11 a.m. at the Naval Undersea Museum. Seven local Pearl Harbor survivors have confirmed they will attend the free event.

Seventy years later, why do we still put such an emphasis on what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called “a date which will live in infamy?” The attack on America’s Pacific fleet killed 2,402 service personnel and wounded another 1,282. Civilian casualties amounted to 57 killed and 35 wounded.

Beyond that, the attack jolted America from its isolationist fantasies and thrust the nation directly into the ongoing worldwide conflict on two fronts — against imperial Japan in the Pacific and against Nazi Germany’s legions in Europe and North Africa.

In a fortunate stroke of luck, American carriers remained untouched in the attack. Naval air power, it turned out, was the decisive factor that allowed the U.S. Navy to halt and reverse the Japanese advance. In addition, throughout the war, Pearl Harbor served as motivation for American efforts to fight. Those elements, combined with America’s industrial might, eventually spelled doom for Japan.
 
Admiral Hara Tadaichi put it succinctly from Japan’s perspective: “We won a great tactical victory at Pearl Harbor and thereby lost the war.”

Its enemies vanquished and its homeland largely untouched behind its Atlantic and Pacific walls, America became the dominant world power in the aftermath of World War II.

Who knows how different history might have been had not America been drawn into the war by imperial Japan.

That’s why, 70 years later, we take the time to commemorate the lives lost and to contemplate the consequences of Japan’s surprise military strike at Pearl Harbor.