The Virginia War Memorial and the Navy League of the United States, Richmond Chapter, will co-host the 82nd Commonwealth’s Pearl Harbor Day Remembrance Ceremony on Dec. 7 at 11 a.m. The ceremony will be outdoors in the Memorial’s Shrine of Memory — 20th Century at 621 S. Belvidere St. The public is invited and should dress accordingly.

This ceremony remembers the over 2,400 Americans killed and the over 1,100 wounded during the surprise attack by forces of Imperial Japan on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec.7, 1941, that brought the U.S. into World War II. Forty-one of those killed were listed as native Virginians.

Admission to the War Memorial and the event are free. Free parking is available and visitors should arrive by 10:45 a.m. for the ceremony.

The ceremony will include the presentation of wreaths in memory of the Virginians who died during the attacks.

“The name of each Virginian who perished on that fateful day will be read and remembered with the tolling of the ship’s bell from the guided missile cruiser USS Virginia (CGN-38), which was decommissioned in 1994,” said Dr. Adam J. “Jay” Fielder, president of the Navy League’s Richmond Council and the program’s master of ceremonies. The bell is on permanent display at the Virginia War Memorial.

The program’s keynote speaker is Commander Dennis Bussey, U.S. Navy (Ret.), the son of career Navy Chief Petty Officer Joseph Bussey, who was aboard the battleship USS California in Pearl Harbor. Commander Dennis Bussey is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He and his wife, a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, retired to Richmond after active duty, where he founded the James River Hikers and is a noted historian.

For more information about the ceremony, please call (804)786-2060 or visit www.vawarmemorial.org or www.dvs.virginia.gov.