Pearl Harbor survivors’ voices are increasingly muted in timbre and number, but some of the remaining able-bodied faithful, now in their mid-90s, made the pilgrimage Monday to the 74th commemoration of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Oahu that brought World War II to America’s door.

Fewer than 30 survivors and 55 World War II veterans total were at Kilo Pier across from the sunken battleship USS Arizona for the ceremony, which recalled the devastation of the surprise Japanese attack — and America’s resiliency and eventual victory in the face of it.

Asked why he comes back every year, USS Arizona survivor Lou Conter, 94 — one of just seven living crew members from the battleship — was quick to respond.

“To pay respects to the 1,177 shipmates that were killed on the Arizona,” Conter said, his voice quavering slightly. The California man was among survivors seated in the front row with a clear view of the memorial.

“It’s the same each year. It’s very, very hard to go aboard, the same as it was 50 to 60 years ago when we first went aboard the memorial,” Conter said.

American dead from the day totaled 2,403, including 68 civilians.

But for many returning survivors, the grimness of the day has been pushed back, with happier recollections of life in Hawaii at the forefront of their thoughts now.

“Oh, it’s great” to be back, said Delaware resident Charles Heite, 94, who was in signal aviation at Wheeler Field. “It brings back a lot of memories, a lot of friends who are no longer here.”

The Navy said more than 3,000 people attended the morning ceremony, which included speakers Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., head of U.S. Pacific Command, and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Kennedy; pass-in-review honors from the destroyer USS Preble; a flyover by two F-22 Raptor fighters; a rifle salute; and taps.

Japan’s Imperial Navy attacked in two aerial waves of 181 and 170 planes just before 8 a.m., in an attempt to cripple the U.S. Pacific Fleet. “There were a lot of heroes that day. And unimaginable destruction,” Harris told the audience. Twenty-one vessels were sunk or damaged, and 188 planes destroyed. In addition to the dead, nearly 1,200 were wounded.

Harris noted a personal connection: His father was an enlisted sailor on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which was usually docked at Ford Island but was at sea at the time of the attack.

Kennedy said the sunken Arizona is the final resting place for nearly 1,000 brave Americans and a “monument to valor and those who fought.” But he also said it is “no less a monument to the folly and tragedy of war itself.”

“THE FACT that the bloody conflict began (for America) 74 years ago today may eventually go down in history as one of the most tragic episodes in a long, sorry history of violent human contestations,” Kennedy said.

Among those who understood the tragedy to unfold was, ironically, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet and planner of the Pearl Harbor attack, he said.

As early as September 1940, Kennedy said, as relations between Japan and the United States worsened, Yamamoto told Japan’s prime minister, “If I am told to fight regardless of the consequences, I shall run wild for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second or third year.”

Yamamoto added, “I hope you will endeavor to avoid a Japanese-American war.”

Among survivors present was Ray Emory, 94, a Kahala resident who manned a .50-caliber machine gun on the light cruiser USS Honolulu, and John Hughes, 96, a Marine who fired a bolt-action Springfield rifle at Japanese planes strafing Ewa Field.

Conter, the USS Arizona survivor, also attended the afternoon interment on the sunken battleship of the ashes of shipmate Ensign Joe Langdell, who died at age 100 in Yuba City, Calif., on Feb. 4.

“He was one of our favorite guys. At the 60th (anniversary) he said, ‘You know, all you guys are getting old and fat and dying off soon,’ and he had his uniform on and he said, “I can still wear my uniform — so all you guys are dying off, and I get to dance with all the widows,’” Conter said, laughing.

A REPRESENTATIVE of the Japan Religious Committee for World Federation gave its annual prayer for peace, which it has done for 34 years, reflecting on the reconciliation of Japan and the United States to become “good friends,” but also ongoing turmoil around the globe.

“World peace appears to be quite fragile these days due to threatening events that occur time and again,” the organization’s representative said.

The past war is a reminder to be vigilant about present concerns, said Harris, the Pacific forces commander.

“From the ashes of war, a rules-based system of international laws was built that has kept the peace in the Indo-Asia-Pacific for decades,” he said. A growing number of “like-minded nations” including the United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea, the Philippines and India are working together, he added.

India’s defense minister, Manohar Parrikar, attended Monday’s ceremony and met with Harris in a first-ever visit by a defense minister from India to Camp H.M. Smith.

Harris said the Pacific Command evokes the motto of survivors to “Remember Pearl Harbor” and keep America alert.

“Sage advice from those who speak firsthand of the events of Dec. 7 and the need for America to never be caught flat-footed again,” Harris said.