American flags across Georgia are flying at half-staff this Sunday to honor the thousands who died 84 years ago in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
What’s Happening: President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. flags lowered to half-staff on December 7, 2025, for National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Georgia follows this order at all state buildings and grounds from sunrise to sunset.
What’s Important: On December 7, 1941, Japanese military planes launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The attack killed 2,403 Americans and destroyed or damaged 21 naval vessels and more than 300 aircraft. The attack pulled America into World War II the very next day.
Catch Up Quick: Japan had become a military dictatorship in the 1930s. Its government began invading other countries to take their resources, attacking China and later expanding into other parts of Asia. When the United States tried to stop Japan by cutting off oil supplies, Japan decided to attack the American fleet at Pearl Harbor to keep the U.S. from interfering with its conquests.
The Big Picture: The attack on Pearl Harbor marked America’s entry into World War II, a war fought against dictatorships in Japan, Germany, and Italy. These governments believed some people were better than others based on race and nationality. They used this thinking to justify invading other countries and killing millions of people they considered inferior.
President Franklin Roosevelt warned Americans in 1941 that the United States could not survive as an “oasis of liberty surrounded by a cruel desert of dictatorship.” The war cost millions of lives but stopped these dictatorships from spreading.
Today, as Americans remember Pearl Harbor, the lessons remain: when governments divide people into “us” versus “them” and deny basic rights to those they consider different, freedom itself is at risk.
Only 12 Pearl Harbor survivors remain alive today.
