Pearl Harbor attack remembered in Washington

Sixty years later, on September 11, 2001, a commission was formed to determine why the intelligence community was not able to prevent the attacks, and concluded a reason was bureaucratic rivalries.

Monday’s ceremony brought one Pearl Harbor survivor and one World War II veteran. “So, it’s up to the next generation who didn’t directly take part or wasn’t alive at the time to remember those events and to keep them alive in our historical memory”.

He was on his way to the chapel early that morning when he heard a loud rumble, sirens and then an announcement over the loudspeaker: “This is not a drill”. “He also manned one of the deck mounted machine guns and attempted to shoot down a Japanese warplane”, Davis said.

‘We wondered what was going on.

“It changed everything as far as I can see”, he said. “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, startled”. “…A month later and I left high school with my parents’ permission they signed my papers and I joined the Marine Corps to do what I could to help win the war”. The third is buried in New Mexico, he said.

Veterans traveled to the capital from all over the country on what’s called an “honor flight”.

He returned to Hawaii in 1990, but has not been back since.

“I was asleep in my bunk”, said Hughes. And the soldiers still with us were honored alongside other survivors.

Service members carry ceremonial wreaths to be presented to the entombed crew of the USS Utah during the USS Utah Memorial sunset tribute at Ford Island, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Dec. 6, 2015.

“Today and for every tomorrow, we owe a debt to the men and women who gave their full measure of devotion on December 7 and throughout World War II”, Harris said.

Many gathered in Atchison Monday afternoon to remember those who lost their lives on Pearl Harbor 74 years ago.

Sounding like he was ready to suit up, he added, “As long as we remain that way and remain one, they’ll never get us”.

Hundreds of Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 and wounding over 1,000 people on December 7, back in 1941.