Eighty-three years ago, on Dec. 7, 1941, U.S. military bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, were assaulted in what has been termed a “sneak attack” by Japan. It surely was that, as Japanese planes filled the skies and attacked our stationed ships.

Since then, we Americans have observed Dec. 7 of each year as Pearl Harbor Day for several reasons. We continue to mourn the 2,403 Americans who died in the attack — and the millions of others, both civilian and military, who perished during World War II.

We remind ourselves how grateful we should be for those in the military, both then and now, who refuse to be beaten, even when facing fearful odds. We reflect that war, once a confrontation restricted to armies and navies, has now become a bloody contest pitting every man, woman and child in a nation against their adversaries.

For many years, Pearl Harbor Day was a time when we thought about the danger of complacency and vowed, “never again!” Never again would we Americans allow an enemy to grow strong as we did nothing to stop it. Never again would we permit ourselves to be taken by surprise. Those words were something of a collective promise to ourselves and our posterity for many years.

Then, on Sept. 11, 2001, it happened again. The war against Islamic terrorists ensued.

Just a few men and women who were in Hawaii on that terrible day more than 80 years ago remain among us. They were part of a generation that paid in oceans of blood for, ironically, an attempt to keep our nation out of war.

Today, we honor them and those of the “Greatest Generation” who rose from the carnage of military defeat to march on to victory.

As we do, we pray we will be able to duplicate that feat the next time we are called to account for our failure to keep from repeating history.