Pearl Harbor Survivors Mark 74th Anniversary Of Attack With Ceremony At Intrepid Museum
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Monday marks 74 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor killed thousands of people and launched the United States into World War II.
At the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, survivors of the bombing as well as former USS Intrepid crew members remembered all those who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941.
With a bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace," three Pearl Harbor survivors tossed a memorial wreath into the Hudson River, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported.
Armando Galella said he still feels a visceral reaction to the attacks.
"I'm bitter, they tried to kill me," the 94-year-old said.
Galella was based at Hickam Field, next to Pearl Harbor.
"We saw all the devastation and my best friend John J. Horan got killed that day," Galella said.
Clark Simmons, 94, of Brooklyn said it was a Sunday morning and a chaplain aboard the USS Utah was finishing his service when Japanese fighters closed in.
"He says, 'God bless you, man your battle stations,'" Simmons said. "As the ship began to list we went over the side and swam to Ford Island. I jumped from the ship into the water."
Nearly 2,400 Americans lost their lives in the attack, including 40 from New York.