Local American Legion remembers Pearl Harbor
Ceremony rekindles many memories for veterans
Wednesday morning’s Pearl Harbor commemoration ceremony at Yuma’s H. H. Donkersley American Legion Post No. 19 rekindled many memories from those in attendance, including veteran Frank Clark, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in October of 1945.
“I was just a baby-faced kid. Back then the country was so patriotic,” the now 88-year-old Clark said. “My brothers were in, my uncle was in, I just wanted to do my duty. I will be patriotic until the day the good Lord takes me.”
Clark, a Pittsburgh native, said he served for six years. For five years and four months of that, was he was stationed at various places and on different ships in the Pacific, including time on the Japanese Occupational Force.
The commemoration ceremony, held on the 76th anniversary of the surprise attack that hurled the U.S. into World War II, was intended to honor military personnel from every branch of service, both past and present, and remember the events of that tragic day.
The losses suffered in the surprise attack were devastating. There were 2,403 killed and 1,178 wounded, along with four American battleships sunk and nearly 350 aircraft damaged or completely destroyed.
Post commander Fred Richard was the master of ceremonies for the event, and when he spoke to the crowd, which included four other World War II veterans, he spoke about the need to remember, not just on the day of its anniversary, but every day.
“We all know that sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance,” said Richard, a Vietnam-era veteran who enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 23.
Richards added that National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, which was established in 1994, is just as important as Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
“After the last bomb is dropped, the last enemy
killed, and the final war won, it will always be remembered,” Richards said. “Pearl Harbor will never be forgotten. It is not going to go away.”
Dean “Doc” Hager, Capt. U.S. Navy retired, who spent a total of 30 years with the Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Merchant Marines, was the guest speaker, and started off by asking everyone to make a point of thanking a veteran.
He noted that Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day is not a holiday, it is a day or warning, one that must burn forever in America’s consciousness, so the lessons learned are never forgotten.
“Just like the attack on the Twin Towers, that attack was plotted in secret, it was waged without mercy and it took the lives of 2,403 Americans,” Hager said.
Hager said the country witnessed many acts of heroism on Dec. 7, 1941, by common men placed in extraordinary circumstances who rose to the occasion while displaying uncommon valor.
Nine of the men who fell that day, he said, have had U.S. Navy ships named after them. Also, 15 men earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions during the two-hour attack, 10 of whom didn’t live long enough to receive it. Two pilots were also able to get to their planes and eventually shoot down four enemy aircraft.
“The following day, as details became known, our nation’s grief and shock turned into something different,” Hager said. “It turned into grim resolve. Lines of volunteers went around city blocks and women rolled up their sleeves and shouldered the burden of the farm and industry.”
For the next four years the country was at war with Japan and Germany, as the fate of the free world hung in the balance, he said.
In closing, he said the country needed to maintain a strong military, successive generations needed to be taught the meanings of honor, courage and commitment, and that the basic freedoms laid out within the U.S. Constitution need to be defended at any cost.
He also asked that people continue to provided assistance, in any way they can, to veterans and their families.
Art Nottingham of the City of Yuma’s Armed Forces Park said when ground was broken for it back in 2002, six Pearl Harbor survivors were in attendance.