World War II Veteran Wetzel Sanders, 92, is one of the approximately 10 Pearl Harbor survivors remaining in West Virginia.
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On the day the nation pays tribute to those who perished in the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Arizona memorial will honor the man who was the ship’s oldest surviving officer.
“Over 2,400 of our military died at Pearl Harbor 74 years ago; today, we gather to mourn them”, said Norman Goldstein, a WWII veteran from Cleveland.
COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Veterans lay a wreath in the water off the side of the Lexington Museum on the Bay during a remembrance ceremony on the 74th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Monday.
“Went in to have some breakfast, then went up to my bunk and “ba-boom, ba-boom”, and I thought, ‘what the heck, ‘ ran to the window just in time to see this hangar go up in a ball of flame”, Dowd said.
“It brings back some lousy memories”, said Irwin, of returning to Pearl Harbor. Of the 60,000 survivors, there are estimated to be between 2,000 to 2,500 still living, people now in their 90s or older.
“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.
At 97 Gunter still has total recall of numerous events of the war but he is concerned that few people remember it now.
“I try not to think about it. I don’t talk about it, even with my family”, he said.
He comes to the annual ceremony because the attack was a big thing in his life.
The memorial event was held on a Navy pier overlooking the USS Arizona Memorial. It straddles the battleship which sank nine minutes after being hit. “I was fortunate, I was in battle but didn’t get killed”. More than 40 military members who went to school in Davenport have been killed in the line of duty. We don’t know what they would’ve become.
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While Japan also employed the use of submarines in the attack, the article says that about 360 Japanese planes descended from the skies on that fateful morning 74 years ago.
