Survivors gather at Pearl Harbor

“The survivors from Arkansas who were in Pearl Harbor will be cutting the ribbon to allow access to the general public to the main deck of the Hoga today”, Hibblong said.

As a survivor of the attack, Bender was the guest of honor at a Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony aboard the decommissioned battleship on the 74th anniversary of the attack on Monday. He hopes if Americans are more vigilant, history won’t repeat itself.

These Pearl Harbor and other World War II survivors have stood against other world bellicosity, overcame the impossible, showed many of us today what bravery and determination stands for as well as bringing our nation to the steps of resolution. With Germany and Italy as its allies, they formed the Axis powers. Learning from the past, George said, is the best way for people to protect themselves and the United States in the future.

The speech was delivered before a joint session of Congress as a call for the declaration of war against Japan. “We hear the threats from around the world as they come to us, the fact that they hit that part of California obviously was a surprise, but knowing they are planning day in and day out to disrupt our American way of life, is unfortunately not a surprise”.

After Westcott, Marine Col. Patrick Wall, spoke to the audience on the legacy left by the men of Pearl Harbor.

In 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described December 7 as a day that would live in infamy. Within days of the attack, the United States was at war with Japan. However, series of errors committed by typists and translators hindered the Japanese from giving the message of war to Washington in time.

For some people, the attack is more than just a date on the calendar, they were directly affected by the Japanese assault.

Of those killed, 1,177 were on board the USS Arizona, which exploded during the attack.

He and his fellow sailors were preparing for a free day off the ship, when he remembers a voice over the loud speaker telling the men to “man their battle stations”.

The wreckage of the ship was recovered in 1943, but after years underwater, the bodies of the dead were mere skeletons. However, two ships namely Arizona and Utah, which were severely damaged, were irreparable.

Just 334 USS Arizona crew members survived the attack that day; with Langdell gone, news reports say, only eight crewmen remain.

“One of them was the Arizona blowing up and the other was the U.S.S. Shaw, which was at dry dock with all of its ammunition aboard”.