Pearl Harbor Survivors Mark Remembrance Of Attack, Legacy
HONOLULU (CBSNewYork/AP) — Survivors will gather at the site of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to remember fellow servicemen killed in the early morning raid 76 years ago.
About 20 survivors are expected to attend Thursday's event at a grassy spot overlooking the harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial. A couple thousand members of the public, Navy and National Park Service officials will join them.
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Author Steve Twomey will deliver the keynote address. He wrote "Countdown to Pearl Harbor," which examines the 12 days leading up to the Dec. 7, 1941, attack.
A moment of silence will mark the time the attack began.
In New York, a wreath-laying ceremony was held at the Intrepid Museum on Manhattan's West Side to commemorate the anniversary of the attack.
Armando Chick Galella was a supply sergeant at Hickam Field, Hawaii. He was just finishing his breakfast on Sunday, December 7, 1941.
"All of a sudden, I hear whoom! whoom! And I look around, there's smoke coming out of Pearl Harbor, because Hickam Field is right next to Pearl Harbor," he told WCBS 880's Rich Lamb. "Oh my gosh, what the hell, what's going? All of a sudden, I looked up, I saw the red circles. The red circles are Japanese planes. They were flying low."
To taps, the 96-year-old dropped a memorial wreath to the surface of the Hudson River to remember those killed.
More than 2,300 servicemen were killed in the assault carried out by Japanese airplanes. Nearly half were on the USS Arizona battleship, which exploded and sank after being bombed.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)