It’s been 80 years since then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress declaring “December 7, 1941: A date which will live in infamy.”

That was the date that 353 Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service aircraft staged a surprise attack on the American military naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, destroying numerous American warships and aircraft. More than 2,400 military personnel and civilians were killed. It marked America’s entry into World War II.

The anniversary was noted in a ceremony this month at the Freedom Plaza outside Norwich City Hall. The event was co-sponsored by the Norwich Area Veterans Council, the City of Norwich and the Groton Sub Base. Local veterans were joined by city officials, community representatives and sub base leaders. Students from the Naval Submarine School in Groton stood in full dress on the front steps of City Hall during the ceremony.

Seventeen Connecticut residents serving in the military died in the Pearl Harbor attack, two of them from Norwich. Relatives of SK3 Harry Carlson and Seaman First Class Michael Quarto attended the City Hall ceremony, with models of the battleship USS Arizona presented to the families. Both Carlson and Quarto were aboard the ship when it sank during the Japanese attack. More than 1,170 crewmen aboard the vessel perished. A concrete memorial stands on the site of the wreckage.

Greg Carlson, 65, owns a letter that his uncle Harry wrote to Greg’s father while at Pearl Harbor. Carlson said his uncle wrote “when I get out of here, you and I will go hunting in the woods of Griswold.”

“Little did he know what I know now,” said Greg. “I go out in the woods of Griswold, and think he might’ve walked on the same property. It touches you.”

Carlson said he visited the Arizona Memorial back in the 1970s, and may go back sometime. “My uncle was in the part of the ship where the torpedo went through,” he said. “I wonder if the table he most likely used to write the letter to my father is still at the bottom of the sea, where the ship sank.”

Like Carlson, James Quarto is only acquainted with his uncle Michael through others.

“I knew him mostly through my father’s and aunt’s recollections. He was a typical American, loved sports. He grew up in a tight-knit Italian neighborhood in the Boswell Avenue area,” Quarto said.

His relatives didn’t get confirmation of his uncle’s death until weeks after the attack. “It hit them hard.”

Quarto, 74, said he hasn’t been to the Arizona Memorial, and doesn’t have plans to go at this time. He was touched by the Norwich ceremony.

“You see the sub school students (standing on the steps of City Hall) ... they’re all 18, 19, 20 year olds. That was my uncle. It’s touching in that respect.”

SK3 Carlson was 20 years old when he died at Pearl Harbor, while Seaman First Class Quarto was 19.

Keynote speech

Groton Sub Base Navy Command Master Chief Kellen Voland was keynote speaker at the Norwich ceremony. He relayed the story of the base’s then-Executive Officer Cassin Young, who was commander of the Naval repair ship USS Vestal, which was moored in Pearl Harbor, just across from the Arizona on that fateful December day. Young was blasted overboard during the attack, and he swam through burning oil to reach his damaged ship.

“The sailors aboard the Vestal were preparing to abandon ship,” said Voland. “Officer Young then appears out of the oily water, like some sea creature, and said to them ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going?’ “He told them to get aboard the ship, and the crew got the fires under control. They also picked some Arizona survivors out of the water, and managed to move the Vestal across the sea and beach it, so it could be salvaged and used later in the war. Young would receive the Medal of Honor.

“Our nation has always been blessed to have strong young men and women imbued with boldness and courage ... who are willing and able to do whatever it takes, whenever it happens, to defend America, wherever and whenever our liberty is in jeopardy,” said Voland.

The names of the 17 Connecticut servicemen, including Quarto and Carlson, who died at Pearl Harbor, were read at the City Hall ceremony, each name followed by a tolling of the city’s Freedom Bell.

Norwich Area Veterans Council member Tom Callinan performed “Remember Pearl Harbor,” a song composed by Don Reid and Sammy Kaye 10 days after the Japanese attack.