"" PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - Veterans who
survived the Pearl Harbor attack that
launched the United States into World
War II attended Sunday's 73rd
anniversary ceremony with the help of
canes, wheelchairs and motorized
scooters.
Wearing purple orchid lei, about 100 Pearl
Harbor and World War II survivors
attended the ceremony overlooking a
memorial that sits atop sunken battleship
USS Arizona. Many of them arrived well
before the sun came up.
This year's anniversary of the Japanese
attack is the 10th consecutive one that
USS Utah survivor Gilbert Meyer attended.
But it's getting harder for Meyer, 91, to
travel to Hawaii from San Antonio.
Asked if he planned to attend next year's
anniversary, he responded with a chuckle,
"That's like asking me if I'll still be alive."
Harold Johnson, 90, is making it a goal to
attend the 75th anniversary, even though
traveling from Oak Harbor, Washington,
isn't always easy. "I've got a little scooter
that's a real life saver," the USS Oklahoma
survivor said.
Johnson had been aboard the Oklahoma
for just six months on Dec. 7, 1941,
looking forward to a day off and a "date
with a little Hawaiian girl." He was
shining his shoes when the first alarm
went off, he recalled.
"Three months later I ran into her in
town in Honolulu," he said of his date.
"She was mad at me because I stood her
up."
For many of the roughly 2,000 survivors
who remain, there are also more painful
memories.
Keynote speaker Gen. Lori Robinson,
commander of Pacific Air Forces, told the
crowd of several thousand about four of
the nine remaining survivors of the USS
Arizona.
Don Stratton, 92, of Colorado Springs,
Colorado, and Lauren Bruner, 94, of La
Mirada, California, were two of six men
who escaped the inferno that engulfed the
forward half of the ship by negotiating a
line, hand over hand, about 45 feet in the
air, despite burns to more than 60 percent
of their bodies.
John Anderson, 97, of Roswell, New
Mexico, was ordered off the ship, but he
didn't want to leave behind his twin
brother, Delbert. Even though he was
forced into a small boat that took him to
Ford Island, he commandeered an empty
boat and returned to the Arizona to
rescue three shipmates. But he never
found his brother.
"When the Arizona sank, she took with
her 1,177 sailors and Marines," Robinson
told the crowd, which included Arizona
Gov. Jan Brewer and Hawaii Gov. David
Ige.
Robinson also highlighted the sacrifices of
the Honolulu Fire Department, which was
dispatched to respond after receiving the
alarm at 8:05 a.m. "Without knowing it,
the Honolulu Fire Department was going
to war," she said. "Three firefighters
would never return, and six others would
be seriously injured."
The ceremony also featured a Japanese
peace prayer, a Hawaiian blessing and a
moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the
minute the bombing began. F-22s from the
Hawaii Air National Guard 199th Fighter
Squadron and Air Force 19th Fighter
Squadron conducted a flyover.
Later in the afternoon, the four USS
Arizona survivors planned to visit the
memorial for a toast to their fallen
shipmates with a glass of sparkling wine
given to their survivors association by
President Gerald Ford, using glasses that
are replicas of the ones on the ship. After
the toast, divers would place one of the
glasses at the base of the Arizona's gun
turret four. It's where ashes of 38 Arizona
survivors are interred.
This year's anniversary will likely be the
last one Ervin Brody, 91, of Houston
attends. "Expenses are getting up there and
we're retired," he said. "A lot of us figure
this will be the last."""
Link.

Never forget!!

God bless those veterans. They're spirit today is admirable.

God bless all US veterans & their families.

*I heard from people ho went to the memorial, that air bubbles still come up..
Gives me the chills*