Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day: 79th anniversary goes virtual amid COVID-19

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Monday’s 79th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor will be commemorated during a closed ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The annual event at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii is off-limits to the public “to protect our Pearl Harbor Survivors and World War II Veterans in attendance,” according to the National Park Service.

But the ceremony will be live streamed on the official website for this year’s National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

The Japanese sneak attack on Dec. 7, 1941 — which then-President Franklin Roosevelt immortally dubbed “a date which will live in infamy” — killed 2,403 service members and civilians.

Another 1,178 people were wounded by kamikaze pilots who sank two US Navy battleships — the USS Arizona and the USS Utah — and destroyed 188 aircraft, helping push America into World War II.

During a live, NBC radio broadcast from Hawaii, a correspondent described the “severe bombing” of Pearl Harbor and Honolulu, with one shell “dropped within 50 feet” of the WGU radio tower.

“It is no joke. It is a real war,” the reporter said.

This past weekend, a 99-year-old survivor of the attack, Armando “Chick” Galella, was the guest of honor at a somber ceremony in suburban Rockland County, according to News12.

Galella said his “heart goes out” to those who were killed.

“They had no chance. Wave after wave. It seemed like an eternity. Like it would never end,” he said.

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