Officials, family members of Pearl Harbor attack survivors gather on Intrepid for 82nd anniversary
Officials and family members of survivors of the Attack on Pearl Harbor gathered to commemorate the 82nd anniversary on the Intrepid. They say it’s especially important since all of the local survivors have died.
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It was a somber morning on the Intrepid.
Officials and family members of survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor gathered to commemorate the 82nd anniversary. They say it’s especially important since all of the local survivors have died.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military attack by the Japanese against the U.S. Naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii. It happened on Dec. 7, 1941 – but despite 82 years passing, the memories were still fresh.
“My father, William ‘Bill’ Adams, did not talk about the war – not to his wife or to his children. Just once I asked him a question, ‘How close did you come to being hit?’ He spread his thumb and forefinger no more than 2 inches apart,” Bronx resident Muriel Adams told the crowd.
Adams also recalled the aftermath of her father’s PTSD. She says there was little cultural awareness of it at the time.
“It wasn’t labeled that, people just said, ‘Oh they’re shell shocked,’” she told News 12 New York. “I think that generation was proud and might not have wanted the help.”
Families also gathered on the dock to see a ceremonial wreath thrown into the Hudson River.
Intrepid Museum President Susan Marenoff-Zausner says memorials like this are crucial.
“The best way for people to remember is for Intrepid and other entities like us is to remember to honor those who gave their lives. They made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms and if we don’t do this year over year they will be forgotten,” she said.
The Intrepid Museum is open all year round and hosts other ceremonies for Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
For more information, head to IntrepidMuseum.org.
