National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, also referred to as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day or Pearl Harbor Day, is observed annually in the United States on December 7, to remember and honor the 2,403 citizens of the United States who were killed in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. On August 23, 1994, the United States Congress, by , designated December 7 of each year as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. On November 29, President Bill Clinton issued a proclamation declaring December 7, 1994, the first National Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor in 1887. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941, was the immediate cause of the United States' entry into World War II. Pearl Harbor was originally an extensive shallow embayment called "Wai Momi" (meaning, “Waters of Pearl”) or "Puuloa" (meaning, “long hill”) by the Hawaiians. Puuloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess, Kaahupahau, and her brother (or son), Kahiuka, in Hawaiian legends. According to tradition, Keaunui, the head of the powerful Ewa chiefs, is credited with cutting a navigable channel near the present Puuloa saltworks, by which he made the