Most of us struggle with remembering important dates. Call it a factor of age or blame it on our rushed society.

The problem causes many of us to use various mechanisms to remember key dates in our lives — calendars, electronic reminders, even social media triggers.

But a few dates are burned in our nation’s memory forever. One of those, Sept. 11, 2001, will always be remembered for the deadly terror attacks on our country.

But for literally decades prior to 9/11, the high-water mark in American history was Dec. 7, 1941. On that day the nation of Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The attack was a slaughter.

Events of that day both shocked America, but also drastically harmed our nation’s military infrastructure.

The world quickly saw how a motivated and galvanized America would react. Industrial factories were modified to produce military machinery and weapons.

America’s resolve and military might ultimately changed the face of the world with the outcome of World War II.

But it all started at Pearl Harbor. Much is likely to change in the years ahead as our nation grappled with political and economic changes, but we hope and pray our nation continues to invest in a strong military capable of thwarting the next surprise attack on our country.

God bless the men and women who were attacked — some killed — in Pearl Harbor 75 years ago and God bless the men and women of our nation’s military today.