Veterans to gather aboard the USS Midway for anniversary of attack on Pearl Harbor

SAN DIEGO - Veterans will gather aboard the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum in downtown San Diego today to mark the 71th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The remembrance ceremony is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., according to the museum's website. The annual event is co-hosted by the museum and the San Diego Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.

Around 100 to 250 veterans and members of the public typically attend the free event each year. The ceremony will include the playing of taps, a gun salute and the throwing of wreathes overboard in honor of those killed in the attack.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, 353 Japanese warplanes killed about 2,400 Americans, wounded more than 1,200, sank four U.S. battleships and damaged four others. Also sunk or damaged were three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and a minelayer.

The surprise attack, which lasted about two hours, thrust the nation into World War II, which was already raging in Europe and Asia.