Helen McDonald, a historian with the Nimitz Foundation, sees an even more disturbing parallel between the late 1930s and the present. “The U.S. was still in a deep depression” in the years prior to the attacks, she says. Even with a war raging overseas, “we were really more focused on our own problems.”

It’s a question worth pondering this Pearl Harbor Day: How can we adequately remember heroes of past wars when we can’t even focus on the two wars we’re fighting now? As the surge strategy in Iraq brought about a sharp decline in U.S. military deaths — from around 80 a month to 17 in November — first the campaign, then the economic crisis crowded the war off the nightly newscasts and front pages.

National Geographic has a remembrance.

And here’s a video for Alive Day.