The 72nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor will be remembered Saturday, Dec. 7, with a ceremony in St. Paul.

The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association and Fort Snelling National Cemetery Memorial Rifle Squad will host the 10 a.m. remembrance ceremony at the Veterans Services Building near the state Capitol.

Included will be a rifle salute, a brief program with remarks by guest speaker George Augustinack of the Dan Patch Historical Society and recognition of USS Arizona survivor Edward Wentzlaff. The Arizona was sunk in the harbor, and its hull is now a memorial in the harbor.

Minnesota had a role in Pearl Harbor when the USS Ward, a destroyer crewed by many Minnesota Naval Reservists, was patrolling the Hawaiian harbor during the attack and fired the first U.S. shots of World War II, sinking a Japanese midget submarine.

The No. 3 gun from the Ward, which fired that first shot, is displayed on the state Capitol grounds, near the Veterans Services Building.