Remember Pearl Harbor

I did remember Pearl Harbor today...but not because I was alive when it happened.

I attended an annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony. I've been to it many times, and it is always a moving tribute.

At the event I met a young man who had served in the Army National Guard in Afghanistan for 14 months. I thanked him for his service. He said it was the first time he had attended the event, and called it "amazing." He said he was happy to meet veterans from previous generations.

Sadly each year there are less World War II veterans in attendance than at the previous year's ceremony.

Many of the speakers talked about the debt of gratitude the American people owe to veterans for preserving the freedoms we all enjoy.

My mother has told me of her memories of that day in 1941...her family was having Sunday dinner when they heard the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

She had many friends and acquaintances who left their quiet New Jersey town to go to war, and never returned. I can't imagine what that would be like and I hope I never have to find out.

Pearl Harbor remembered

The horrific events of 68 years ago yesterday, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, will forever be singed into the memories of today's senior citizens who were living then. I've heard many recollections over the years, from people who remember exactly where they were that Sunday when they heard the news.

The Dec. 7, 1941 attack took the lives of 2,402 American military personnel stationed at Pearl Harbor.

I attended an annual remembrance ceremony Monday at Veterans Park in our city, one of the few held in Connecticut, organizers say. You can read the story here.

One Korean War-era veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps told me that Dec. 7, 1941 was to his generation (although he was just a child then) what Sept. 11, 2001 was to today's generation. He said that's because both were sneak attacks and both plunged our country into war.

Whatever your feelings about war, or the military, it's important for those of us who weren't alive in 1941 to help keep alive the memory of that fateful day and the subsequent sacrifices made by so many.

'Not good enough'

On Wednesday I attended a prejudice reduction conference at Quinnipiac University run by the Human Relations Club from our local high school.
The keynote speaker, a retired educator from Philadelphia, told the mostly teen-aged audience about his experiences confronting prejudice throughout his life, and having the feeling of being "not good enough."
Leon Bass is an Army veteran of World War II, and was one of the liberators of Buchenwald concentration camp. He is an inspirational and brilliant speaker.

Here is a link to my story, published in yesterday's paper.

Pearl Harbor should never be forgotten

Is it just me or was there hardly any mention of the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

Hello? Seems like everyone is holiday season-crazed and the day was more or less forgotten.
Lots of Americans mark Memorial Day and Veterans' Day, but Dec. 7 seems to merit less and less notice.

In our community there is a brief but moving program each year, because there are some people who refuse to forget.
And they are not only the veterans of all the conflicts since World War II . There were residents at the park next to City Hall who took time out of their busy schedules (it was held on Monday instead of the real anniversary Sunday) to remember those Americans who were killed and wounded on Dec. 7, 1941.

I covered the ceremony for the paper, and you can read about it here.

Horrific story recounted

On Sunday I went to a book reading at a small bookstore that just opened last year. I had never been there before, but now plan to return. It was a friendly place.
The author, Connecticut resident Martin Schiller, is a Holocaust survivor who wrote of his horrific boyhood memories of living in concentration camps.

"Bread, Butter and Sugar" is the story of the sheer cruelty Schiller witnessed, and somehow survived.
"Writing that book was an emotional roller coaster," Schiller told the audience of about 60 people. "I discovered it was impossible for me to write in the first person, so I wrote in the third person."

For the reading, however, he shifted back to first-person narration. He read a chapter, "The Train Ride," which was a gripping tale of being "sardined" with other Jews into a cattle car and taken to Buchenwald, a concentration camp in Germany.

One woman asked him if he had been "emotionally scarred."
Schiller replied: "I still wake up with nightmares. Traumatic situations may diminish with time, but they never go away."

When the camp was liberated, Schiller was 12. "I was emaciated," he said. "I was only 48 pounds. I almost died."

Now 75, Schiller is a retired electrical engineer. He and his wife of almost 50 years raised three children. When he returned to Buchenwald in 2004 with several family members it was cathartic for him, he said.

Another audience member asked him if he experienced "survivor's guilt."
Schiller replied, "Absolutely. But I turned that into obligation. That's why I'm here."

Dec. 7, 1941 remembered

I joined a small group of veterans and other residents who gathered last Friday to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
I was there covering the brief ceremony for the newspaper, as I have in the past. I'd like to think if I had a different job I would have been there anyway.
We stood in the bitter cold (the folding chairs were way too cold to sit on!) to hear a Vietnam veteran speak about remembering what happened at Pearl Harbor and about supporting our troops, even if we don't support the war in Iraq.
Several veterans I have gotten to know invited me to join them for lunch. I wasn't going to, but they insisted. It was an honor to spend a short time with these veterans of World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam.
And at a lunch like that, that's when the real stories come out!

They deserve our thanks

Yesterday I covered an event at a nursing home that honored elderly patients who had served in the military, mostly during World War II, as part of a Veterans Day holiday celebration.
Staffers had decorated a room to look like a USO Canteen.
Residents listened to WWII-era songs - on original 78 rpm records - and talked about memories from their youth.
A school administrator and former high school history teacher, dressed in a wool uniform from Patton's Third Army, played the records. She showed off memorabilia that included V-Mail envelopes, gas ration coupons and part of a white parachute signed by paratroopers who fought in the Pacific Theater.
Members of the American Legion who had served in WWII and the Korean War made up an Honor Guard, and one of them played "Taps."

The director of the historical society showed patients black and white photographs of local people celebrating downtown in 1945 when victory was declared and the war was over.

I talked to a few of the veterans and they were clearly moved by the program. Many were misty-eyed as they recalled where they were when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

I met a friendly chap in his 70s who is from a small town in England. He was a child during the war.
He teared up as he talked about his childhood and his memories of the Germans bombing his country. He remembered with fondness King George and Queen Elizabeth (the current Queen Elizabeth's mother) and how after the bombings they made it a point to visit their subjects, a gesture that was most appreciated.

The nursing home staff said the patriotic program was meant to honor the "Greatest Generation" for the sacrifices they had made on the battlefield and on the home front.
The event served to remind those of us who were not alive at the time that when we see a serviceman or woman we should thank them for their service, past or present.