The U.S. Navy commemorates the 75th anniversary of the attack on #Pearl Harbor Wednesday. HONOLULU—Military officials, veterans and survivors of Pearl Harbor are gathering here in a moment of silence will mark the local time — 7:55 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941 — when the first Japanese planes filled the skies over the harbor where most of the Navy’s Pacific battleships were moored.

Japanese war planes destroyed or damaged hundreds of ships and aircraft in a surprise assault that left 2,403 Americans dead. The event thrust the U.S. into #World War II, and onto the global stage as a superpower.