Pearl Harbor survivor remembers the attacks 74 years ago

Those we’re the words printed on newspapers on December 8, 1941 as the USA entered into World War II after the attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii the day before.

Meanwhile Robert Irwin of Cameron Park, California, was in the barracks when the attack began and saw Japanese planes flying overhead.

Mr. Taylor is one of two known Pearl Harbor survivors in the Quad-Cities area.

Speaking to an audience of roughly 1,000, U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris Jr. recalled that his father was an enlisted sailor on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which left Pearl Harbor a few days before the attack.

“Very emotional”, said Stu Hedley, Pearl Harbor survivor.

“Of what we went through and what is out there that they’re going to have to go through and to be on guard, we were not on full guard, I don’t think, when this happened”, says Morris.

Around 300 members of the San Diego-based dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor joined the ceremony.

Decades later, Hedley, now 94 years-old is among the heroes gathering to remember their fellow servicemen who didn’t make it on that day, December 7 1941.

As part of the 74th anniversary of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day on Monday, the ashes of retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sanford Veterans of Foreign Wars past post commander Joe Garand, who was stationed in France during the Korean War and then went on to complete three tours of duty in Vietnam, laid a wreath in the calm waters of the pond. The ceremonies are co-sponsored by the National Park Service and U.S. Navy.

That attack was, until the 2011 terrorist attacks in NY and Washington D.C., the deadliest scene ever on American soil, as bomber pilots took more than 2,400 American lives.

Local Pearl Harbor survivors and the community continue to honor those who lost their lives.

Those who served say both tragic events helped demonstrate the country’s resiliency. “We did just exactly what we were told to do”, he said.