President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make history on Dec. 27 when they meet at Pearl Harbor 75 years after the Japanese attack that launched America into war.

Abe announced the meeting early Monday, Hawaii time, and it was confirmed later by the White House.

“Just the fact that they’ll be together at Pearl Harbor is historic,” said University of Hawaii American studies professor Dennis Ogawa. “Time heals. The only lesson of war is that you want peace.”

Six months ago, Obama was the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima since the U.S. atomic bombing that ended World War II. In August, Abe’s wife, Akie, posted photos on Facebook of her low-key trip to the Arizona Memorial that month, which added to the speculation that her husband would become the first sitting Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor.

Like Obama in Hiroshima, Abe is unlikely to apologize for his country’s wartime actions when he visits.

Some Nisei veterans of World War II, who were honored at a luncheon at the Hawai‘i Convention Center on Monday, welcomed the gesture of reconciliation.

“It’s wonderful they’re meeting here,” said Norman Yukio Hashisaka, 91, of Kalaheo, Kauai, who volunteered for the U.S. Military Intelligence Service between 1943 and 1945.

Hashisaka said that if a meeting between Abe and Obama “is toward peace, well, that would be wonderful.”

Even though Japan and America have been allies for decades, 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran Yasunori Deguchi, 92, of South Kona said meetings like the one scheduled between Obama and Abe are healthy.

“That’s the only way you can mend,” he said. “It’s a good thing.”

Arthur Ishimoto, 93, an MIS veteran, called the upcoming meeting “great,” adding, “It’s about time to bury the hatchet. The past is the past.”

But Walt Travis, a 92-year-old Marine veteran from San Diego who served in the Pacific from 1943 to 1945, appeared miffed that Obama would not be present for the weeklong commemoration of Pearl Harbor-related activities.

“We don’t want to interrupt his golf game,” Travis said of Obama’s travel plans.

Travis called the scheduled Dec. 27 meeting between Abe and Obama “a little late to get together.”

Asked about his feelings toward Japan and the Japanese people, Travis said: “It’s all forgotten. It’s all in the past.”

Abe said in a televised news conference in Japan that he would visit Hawaii on Dec. 26 and 27 to pray for the war dead at Pearl Harbor, and meet Obama for the last time under Obama’s presidency.

“We must never repeat the horror of war,” Abe said Monday. “I want to express that determination as we look to the future, and at the same time send a message about the value of U.S.-Japanese reconciliation.”

Abe’s statement indicated that he is “hopeful that his visit will be an indication of how adversaries have an opportunity to reconcile their differences and pursue a peaceful future together as allies,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “That’s certainly what happened between the United States and Japan. … I know that Prime Minister Abe also indicated his desire to travel to Pearl Harbor as a show of respect for those who died on that day.”

Earnest said Obama’s Hiroshima visit created “a powerful image” as the American president and the Japanese prime minister stood side by side.

“And I would expect that seeing the Japanese prime minister and the American president standing side by side in Pearl Harbor, at the memorial of the USS Arizona, just a couple of weeks after the 75th anniversary of that attack, I think will be similarly powerful,” he said. “And I think it is just one more occasion for us to remember the substantial sacrifice and the remarkable patriotism of the greatest generation of Americans.”

Earnest said Obama’s visit to Hiroshima and Abe’s trip to Pearl Harbor were not connected.

He then added, “But, look, there have always been discussions about these important symbolic gestures, and there’s no downplaying the significance of the Japanese prime minister’s decision to visit Pearl Harbor just three weeks after the 75th anniversary of the attacks there.”

Last week, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Obama would not attend this week’s ceremony at Pearl Harbor but was expected to return to Oahu as early as Dec. 16 for his annual family Christmas vacation.

On Wednesday, as on every Dec. 7, a moment of silence will be held on Kilo Pier at Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. to mark the moment the Japanese attack began, killing more than 2,300 U.S. service members and dozens of civilians.

On Aug. 6, 1945, after more than 3 1/2 years of war, a U.S. warplane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, then again on Nagasaki three days later, leading to Japan’s surrender.

Monday’s announcement of the summit comes as Japan worries about the direction of U.S. foreign policy under Obama’s successor, Donald Trump.

The president-elect said during the campaign that Japan and other allies should contribute more to the cost of stationing U.S. troops in their countries. About 50,000 American troops are based in Japan.

Abe met with Trump in New York last month. He wouldn’t disclose details, but he said that Trump is a leader in whom he can have great confidence.

In Japan, Abe’s Pearl Harbor plans met with a mixed reaction.

Tsuneo Watanabe, a senior research fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, said that together with Obama’s visit to Hiroshima, Abe’s visit will complete the reconciliation process and help smooth bilateral relations under any administration. “Historical disputes tend to be brought up when relations become thorny … but once you put them behind and move on, it makes a difference if there is any negative sentiment in the future,” he said.

But Koichi Nakano, a professor of international politics at Tokyo’s Sophia University, said Abe’s Pearl Harbor visit and his commitment to the Japan-U.S. alliance are tantamount to “giving a blank check to Trump” despite the uncertainty over bilateral relations under his administration.

The New York Times and Associated Press contributed to this report.