“This will be one to remember,

It’s going to be something that we’ll cherish forever.”

Mal Middlesworth,

President of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association

For the majority of them

This will be their very last trip

To salute their many fallen friends

To remember all those men and ships

They’ve faithfully met now every five years

To share stories meet survivors and shed tears

But most of them are now in their 80s and 90s

The 65^th Anniversary will be their last they fear

It was 65 years ago today at 7:55 AM

When those Japanese bombers filled the sky

Within hours over two thousand of their friends

Most of them barely kids out of school would die

Most of these valiant old WW II survivors will tell you

They can still hear explosions and still smell burning flesh

They can still feel the tremors of those ships being bombed

And the screams of their dying comrades haven’t left them yet

These valiant old survivors of the infamous Pearl Harbor attack

Have dutifully mustered out for Roll Call to say their Last Farewell

And every one of us should pause today to honor and to remember them

Vowing never to forget General Sherman’s infamous words - “War is Hell.”

With their numbers quickly dwindling, survivors of Pearl Harbor will gather today one last time to honor those killed 65 years ago, and to mark a Day that Lives in Infamy.

These survivors have met here every five years for four decades, but now in their 80s and 90s, most of them are not counting on a 70th reunion. But they have valiantly made every effort to report here today for one final Roll Call.

"We're like the dodo bird. We're almost extinct," said Middlesworth, now an 83-year-old retiree from Upland, California, but then - on Dec. 7, 1941 - an 18-year-old Marine on the USS San Francisco.

Nearly 500 survivors from across the nation were expected to make the trip to Hawaii, bringing with them 1,300 family members, numerous wheelchairs, and far too many painful haunting memories.

Memories of a shocking, two-hour aerial raid that destroyed or heavily damaged 21 ships and 320 aircraft, that killed 2,390 people and wounded 1,178 others, that plunged the United States into World War II and set in motion the events that led to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"I suspect not many people have thought about this, but we're witnessing history today," said Daniel Martinez, chief historian at the USS Arizona Memorial. "We are seeing the passing of a generation."