On 75th anniversary, U.S. veterans recall Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

Record ID: 76208

  • Title: On 75th anniversary, U.S. veterans recall Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
  • Date: 7th December 2016
  • Summary: WARSHIP ENTERING HARBOR VARIOUS OF WARSHIP ENTERING HARBOR AS SPEAKER INTRODUCERS PEARL HARBOR VETERAN, DONALD STRATTON, SAYING: "19 year old first class seaman Stratton had just finished breakfast. When he saw the Japanese plane's topside he ran to his battle station even before the general quarter's alarm sounded. During the attack Don Stratton suffered severe burns on over 60 percent of his body." STRATTON BEING HELPED ON STAGE AND SALUTING AS SPEAKER CONTINUES, SAYING: "And he stands onstage today for all Pearl Harbor survivors. All Pearl Harbor survivors and other World War II veterans are invited to stand as able." (SOUNDBITE) (English) [OVER VARIOUS OF VETERANS AND USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL IN THE BAY] SUPERINTENDENT OF THE WORLD WAR II VALOR IN THE PACIFIC NATIONAL MONUMENT, JAQUELINE ASHWELL, SAYING: "On the USS Arizona, coxswain James Forbis had a working party on the fantail rigging the ship for church services that morning… In the distance unidentified planes started coming in low from the southeast loch… heavy, muffled explosions… He shouted over the PA system again and again: All hands, general quarters, air raid. This is no drill." USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL MEMORIAL BELL BEING RUNG VARIOUS OF WREATH BEING LAID VARIOUS OF PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS STANDING AND BEING APPLAUDED
  • Embargoed: 22nd December 2016 21:43
  • Keywords: Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary John McCain Hawaii memorial
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / PEARL HARBOR, OAHU, HAWII, UNITED STATES
  • City: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES / PEARL HARBOR, OAHU, HAWII, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA0035BVZO7B
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: World War Two veterans gathered to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Wednesday (December 07).
    Ceremonies took place in Pearl Harbor and at the National World War II memorial in Washington D.C..
    Japan's surprise attack at Pearl Harbor killed 2,400 people and plunged the United States into World War Two.
    Many of the servicemen who were killed were aboard the USS Arizona, Oklahoma and Utah.
    Fewer than 200 survivors of the attacks there and on other military bases in Hawaii are alive.
    Wednesday's commemoration in Hawaii took place at a pier overlooking the memorial to the sunken Arizona began and began with a moment of silence at precisely that time.
    The bombing of Pearl Harbor took place at 7:55 a.m. Honolulu time on Dec. 7, 1941, famously dubbed "a date which will live in infamy" by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
    The battleship Arizona sank with 1,177 officers and crew on board and lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
    Wearing leis of fresh Hawaiian flowers around their necks, about 350 U.S. veterans of World War Two and their families received blessings and prayers for peace.
    A performance by the Navy's Pacific Fleet Band was made bittersweet by the knowledge that every member of the USS Arizona band, one of the Navy's best, died that day.
    Two families were to participate in a private ceremony in which the ashes of crew members who survived the attack and died later were to be interred in a turret of the Arizona.
    Across the United States on Wednesday, Americans remembered those who died at Pearl Harbor and the long, difficult war that followed.
    Veterans also gathered at the National World War II memorial in Washington D.C..
    U.S. Vice-President elect Mike Pence and Arizona Senator John McCain attended the ceremony.
    "Many American families were changed that day. Many endured the pain of separation from loved ones, and many suffered the pain that time never completely heals, the loss of children, and parents and siblings. America too was changed forever. For the events of that infamous day, for the events that infamous day, the day that summoned the might and courage and compassion of the American people to a World War,' said McCain, a Vietnam veteran.
    The attack on Pearl Harbor was launched to destroy the U.S. Pacific fleet and with the aim of keeping the United States out of the war.
    It did not have the intended effect. The United States declared war on Japan on December 8th, 194 and three days later, Germany declared war on the United States.
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