The USS Arizona was one of the battleships destroyed by the Japanese when they attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Most of the Arizona's 1,400 crewmen went down with the ship.: Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

As the nation marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attacks on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, the dwindling number of survivors from that day worry about who will remember their legacy once they are all gone.

Harry R. Kerr, director of the Southeast Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association shared an anecdote that exemplifies this concern.

“I was talking in a school two years ago, and I was being introduced by a male teacher, and he said, ‘Mr. Kerr will be talking about Pearl Harbor,’” Kerr told The New York Times. “And one of these little girls said, ‘Pearl Harbor? Who is she?’”

Three thousand people, including 120 survivors are expected to take part in a moment of silence at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.

The attack, which killed 2,402 Americans, wounded 1,282 and damaged or destroyed much of the U.S. Pacific fleet, led to the U.S. declaring war on Japan and entering World War II on the side of the Allies.

The memorial to the USS Arizona floats atop the sunken remains of the ship. 70 years after the ship sank, oil still seeps up from the wreckage. : Photo by Jayme Pastoric of the U.S. Navy.

On April 29, 1975, Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation on record, began removing the last Americans from Saigon. The North Vietnamese launched their final offensive the previous month and South Vietnamese forces had fallen back, losing Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang, Qui Nhon, Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang, and Xuan Loc in quick succession. With the North Vietnamese attacking the outskirts of Saigon, U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin ordered the commencement of Frequent Wind.

In 19 hours, 81 helicopters carried more than 1,000 Americans and almost 6,000 Vietnamese to aircraft carriers offshore. Cpl. Charles McMahon, Jr. and Lance Cpl. Darwin Judge, USMC, were the last U.S. military personnel killed in action in Vietnam, when shrapnel from a North Vietnamese rocket struck them as they were guarding the Tan Son Nhut Airbase during the evacuation.

At 7:53 a.m. on April 30, the last helicopter lifted off the roof of the U.S. Embassy. Later that morning, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace. North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin accepted the surrender from General Duong Van Minh, who had taken over from Tran Van Huong, who had been in power only one day after South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu fled the country.

This marked the end of the Vietnam War.

Watch the NBC News Time Capsule here:  http://www.hulu.com/watch/5136/nbc-news-time-capsule-the-fall-of-saigon-april-29-30-1975.

After fatally wounding President Lincoln on the night of April 14, Booth fled the Ford Theater on horse and crossed the Anacostia River into southern Maryland. Booth found refuge for several days at the home of Confederate agent Thomas A. Jones before securing a boat to cross the Potomac River. Once in Virginia, Booth found shelter at the farm of Richard Garrett, who did not recognize Booth. Garrett allowed Booth to rest in his tobacco barn, but instructed his son to lock the barn from the outside to prevent Booth from stealing horses, thus trapping Booth inside. A tip led Union soldiers to the Garrett farm, where they set the barn on fire in order to flush Booth out of the building. Booth refused to surrender and was shot in the neck by a Union soldier in the ensuing scuffle. He lived for three hours after Union troops dragged him from the barn. In his final moments of life, Booth allegedly gazed at his hands and muttered, “Useless, useless,” as he died. He was buried in the floor of the Old Penitentiary in Washington.

After two days of shelling, Union troops agreed to a ceasefire and evacuated the Fort, which would remain in Confederate hands throughout the majority of the war. Following the battle, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion, causing Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia to join the Confederacy. Just under 4 years after the opening shots were fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War ended with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

For more information visit: http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war

The attack was ill-fated, as the Turkish forces had increased their defenses in the area prior to the attack and managed to sink three out of the ten Allied battleships. Because of this, the Allied war command chose to delay another attempt on the Dardanelles until they could launch a ground invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

For more on this story, click here.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-national-korean-war-veterans-armistice-day

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/09/01/poland.ww2.anniversary/index.html