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[Updated with a short summary of the attack by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Comerford and photos (Scroll down)]
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We cannot let this day, December 7, pass without mentioning that it is the 73rd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack and without paying honor to the relatively few survivors of that dastardly attack.
On that day, almost 2,400 soldiers, sailors and Marines were killed (68 civilian also lost their lives) and 1,178 military and civilians were wounded.
The USS Arizona burns after being hit by a Japanese bomb while U.S. sailors aboard the neighboring USS Tennessee spray fire hoses to force burning oil away from their ship during the air attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (U.S. Navy photo, National Archives collection.)
The military survivors of that attack initially numbered in the tens of thousands. However, a December 2012 Associated Press report said that only about 2,000 to 3,000 Pearl Harbor survivors were still living then.
As a very special honor to those survivors, Honor Flight organizations were organizing special flights this weekend to take as many survivors as possible to our nation’s capital to attend special ceremonies there, including a visit to the White House.
About 100 Pearl Harbor and World War II survivors, many “with the help of canes, wheelchairs and motorized scooters” attended what must have been a very moving ceremony in Hawaii, overlooking the memorial that sits atop the sunken battleship USS Arizona — shown in flames above on December 7 1941.
There were other ceremonies nationwide.
Whether these brave men and women, on the anniversary of a date that has lived “in infamy,” were in Washington, D.C, in Hawaii or anywhere in the world, we thank and honor them all.
Lead photo: A sailor aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon renders honors during a pass-in-review at the USS Arizona Memorial during the 73rd Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration. More than 2,000 guests, including Pearl Harbor survivors and other veterans, attended the National Park Service and U.S. Navy-hosted joint memorial ceremony at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Johans Chavarro)
Added:
A guest drops a flower into the oil-stained waters at the USS Arizona Memorial during the 73rd Anniversary Pearl Harbor Day commemoration ceremony at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Laurie Dexter
Members of the U.S. Navy Sea Cadets, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric Lockwood from Naval History and Heritage Command and members of the U.S. Army 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, “The Old Guard,” salute a wreath placed in honor of service members killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 73 years ago at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tim Comerford)
It was 6 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, when six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters toward Hawaii. The Japanese aircrews achieved complete surprise when they hit American ships and military installations on Oahu shortly before 8 a.m. More than 90 ships were anchored in Pearl Harbor, but the Japanese’s primary targets were the eight battleships anchored there. Seven were moored on Battleship Row along the southeast shore of Ford Island while the USS Pennsylvania (BB 38) lay in dry dock across the channel.
The attack ended shortly before 10 a.m., less than two hours after it began, and the American forces paid a heavy price. Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft destroyed and 159 damaged, the majority hit before they had a chance to take off. American dead numbered more than 2,000 with more than 1,000 military and civilian wounded. The attack which horrified a nation was the catalyst that brought America into World War II.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.