It was the scene of a devastating surprise aerial attack on the naval base on Oahu Island near Honolulu, Hawaii by the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941.

Nearly eight decades later, its historical significance remains such that nothing, not even a pandemic, was about to stop a group of Lehighton veterans from paying homage on Pearl Harbor Day on Monday afternoon.

So, on a relatively chilly, windy day, the Lehighton United Veterans Organization held an observance at 12:48 p.m. at the Lehighton Veterans Memorial Park to signify 79 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The few veterans who gathered couldn’t help but perform what they feel is their duty to continue to honor their fellow veterans’ sacrifice, according to Lehighton United Veterans Organization Commander Kevin “Spike” Long.

“Today we remember on the day the fateful hours of when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese,” Long said. “A day of infamy as worded by (then) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his address to the nation of the attack in Oahu, Hawaii.

“In about 3½ hours, in two waves death and destruction was everywhere. At the end of the day it was realized that 2,400 lives were lost; the most significant loss from the USS Arizona where 1,177 sailors and officers perished.”

Additionally, Long said 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, were destroyed or damaged, and 300 airplanes had the same fate.

“America was now at war with Japan,” he said. “The war would rage on until Sept. 2, 1945, when the Japanese Terms of Surrender was signed on the battleship USS Missouri.

Long noted that Sept. 2, 2020, marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The program then ended with Long thanking the sparse crowd on hand for their support of veterans.