George H. Smith, left, and Alex F. Bronsberg, both of Pennsylvania, attended this morning's ceremony that marked the 65th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Smith was a crewman aboard the USS Ash and Bronsberg was an Army engineer at Schofield Barracks. RICHARD AMBO I The Honolulu Advertiser   An estimated 3,500 people, including 350 to 400 survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack, attended this morning's ceremony. RICHARD AMBO I The Honolulu Advertiser

The solemn observance marked the 65th anniversary of the attack that thrust the United States into World War II.

It will likely be the last hurrah for the survivors, men who are in their 80s and 90s. Some saluted from wheelchairs, others stood with the aid of walkers. An estimated 350 to 400 survivors attended the ceremony, part of a larger group of 1,800 family members who traveled to Hawai'i to mark the anniversary.

An additional 2,000 people were invited to the event, held directly across from the USS Arizona Memorial on Navy installation's Kilo Pier.

Former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw, who addressed the survivors as the ceremony's keynote speaker, said he was grateful to have met their generation.

"It was here that the greatest generation was forged," Brokaw told a crowd of about 3,500 people lining the Kilo Pier.

The attack was at Pearl Harbor but everyone on the Mainland felt "wounded and outraged," Brokaw said, adding that they then sacrificed food for overeseas trops, produced more weapons and did whatever they could to support the war effort.

"It was end of innocence and the beginning greatness for your generation," said Brokaw, who authored "The Greatest Generation" and other books that salute veterans and others from the World War II era.

He asked those in attendance to think of the young men and women attending the ceremony in military uniforms, who are willingly going to war in Iraq and elsewhere, and to keep them in their hearts.