TODAY: Hawaii is a beautiful place.

Yet just the name of one picturesque location is enough to bring to mind the terror and devastation behind A Date That Will Live in Infamy — Pearl Harbor.

Just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the American naval base near Honolulu. Nearly 20 American naval vessels were damaged or destroyed.

More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, and another 1,000 people were wounded.

More than two years after the start of World War II, the United States had been goaded into action, declaring war first on Japan, and then on Germany and Italy.

It’s been 77 years.

On Thursday, the Blackened Canteen Ceremony was held at Pearl Harbor.

The event is co-hosted by the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, National Park Service and Dr. Hiroya Sugano.

The doctor, who is director general of the Zero Fighter Admirers’ Club, “comes from Japan to conduct this annual commemoration of peace and reconciliation ceremony with a silent prayer and pouring of bourbon whiskey from a World War II-blackened canteen into the hallowed waters of Pearl Harbor as an offering to the spirits of the fallen,” reads the website for Pearl Harbor events.

“The blackened canteen is a recovered relic from a B-29 bomber that collided with another B-29 over the city of Shizuoka, Japan in 1945. Twenty-three American airmen were killed. The American dead were buried among the Japanese citizens of Shizuoka who were killed during the bombing raid.”

The Pacific Fleet Band performed as well.

At sundown Thursday, the USS Utah Memorial Sunset Ceremony was held to honor the loss of the USS Utah and 58 of her crew. The Utah was the first ship torpedoed in the attack on the Pacific Fleet.

Today, the National Park Service and the U.S. Navy will host the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 77th anniversary commemoration ceremony to honor and remember the casualties.

The USS Oklahoma Memorial Ceremony will be held today as well. The Oklahoma was hit by as many as 8 to 12 torpedoes in the attack. The ship and 429 of her crew were lost.