65 years ago today...

...the unthinkable happened - the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, propelling the United States into the biggest war the planet has ever seen, World War II. During the attack, the USS Arizona (Above) exploded, almost instantly killing 1,177 American soldiers.

The USS West Virginia burns (above). She was later repaired and served with honor in the war, earning five battle stars.

The attack marked the first time since the War of 1812 that American soil was attacked, and marks one of the most dastardly attacks in modern history and is unparalleled only by 9-11 in American history.

The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt (above, seated), who famously said, "December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy," asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan and got it; on December 11 Italy and Germany also declared war on the United States, and we responded in kind. Thus, Pearl Harbor marked America's entry into the war, and most notably, the beginning of a tragically long list of American casualties.

Some 63 million people, or 3% of the world's population at the time, died in the two theaters of conflict during the war, including about 418,500 Americans, a number that boggles the mind, and quite frankly, is very hard to comprehend. For instance, in the Iraq War, the death toll for Americans is approaching 3,000 and America is starting to turn against the war. However, comparing World War II to any other way is, in most cases, an inaccurate oversimplification.

I'm not writing this to offer up a history lesson, though; I write about Pearl Harbor today to commemorate and remember veterans of World War II, and even more so for the true heroes - those Americans who died to defend the freedom of the United States and to liberate people suffering from tyranny around the world.

Actually, my words mean nothing and it's a billionth of a fraction of praise that all veterans deserve, specifically World War II veterans, but I wanted to at least acknowledge them today. I thought about them all day, as I do every December 7.

Sadly, the ranks of World War II veterans are shrinking every day by about 3,000. This year, many Pearl Harbor survivors have announced that they will make one final pilgrimage to the site of the attack. Here are a few of them I found on AP's Website. (All photos from AP as well)...

Everett Hyland, 83, of Honolulu, salutes in front a a display with his Pearl Harbor attack story on it at the USS Arizona Memorial Museum in Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Lucy Pemoni)

Floyd Patten, 52, seated center, foreground, joins seven of his sons on the deck of the USS Nevada in September 1941, before the December attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Family members are, from left in foreground: Bruce, Floyd and Marvin; in background are, from left: Bick, Ted, Allen, Gilbert and Ray. Six of the Iowa brothers were serving on the Nevada the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, and all lived to tell their stories. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, File)

Pearl Harbor survivor John A. Rauschkolb, 85, right, meets for the first time former Japanese Navy aviator Takeshi Maeda, 85, during the opening ceremony for Pearl Harbor's 65th anniversary symposium at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort last Sunday. Maeda's torpedo plane bombed the USS West Virginia while Rauschkolb was aboard during the Pearl Harbor Attack. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)

Rauschkolb is a bigger man than I can ever hope to be. It takes a special man to shake hands with a former enemy who's nation undoubtedly caused the deaths of so many of his friends and fellow soldiers.

Charlie Ebel, 87, of Guilderland, N.Y., who was on the USS Curtiss, a sea plane tender, during the battle of Pearl Harbor, stands underneath a Japanese flag that flew on the battleship Nagato during the battle, at the unveiling of a display called "December 7, 1941: The Legacy of Pearl Harbor" on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006 at the New York State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. The USS Curtiss was credited with shooting down four Japanese airplanes and helping to sink a Japanese submarine. (AP Photo/Jim McKnight)

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Anyway, I'm thankful and grateful for the men like those pictured above and for all of the men and women who helped us win World War II. Words cannot express what our nation owes you - it is indeed a debt that can never be repaid.