![]() ![]() Mary Hagge from Omaha, Nebraska, said her father served in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. “We need to make sure that it doesn’t come to the homeland and unfortunately it did come to the homeland when it hit Hawaii and it had a ripple effect for the next few years, and it changed a generation.” in that there’s conflicts around the world, and we’re very fortunate,” he said. “For a former military guy, a war on two fronts is a very powerful thing and unfortunately we’re in a day and age with a lot of threats and that could happen.” “We had war on two fronts (in Europe and the Pacific),” he said. We need to maintain our position in the world and not ever let something like that happen again.”ĭavid Cerjan, 54, a retired Army captain, also knew the day well. “… A lot of people have forgotten that we need to pay attention to other countries. “It’s something we shouldn’t forget because it was an attack on our country,” said Sandy Stay. The older generation, including Sandy and Stephen Stay, 77 and 78, respectively, did better, recalling the dates of the attack and demonstrating a solid grasp of the basic facts. “I think it happened during the World War?” It happened a really long time ago, and people are still affected by it,” she said. “I know it’s something to do with Japan and a big bomb happened, a lot of people died. One Las Vegas local in her early 20s, who identified herself only as Becca, said she believed Pearl Harbor is in Japan. Others, especially the young, didn’t know much about the attack at all. … We lost a lot of people then, a lot of resources. It was kind of a sneak attack, and it decimated our ships. “The Japanese attacked our fleet on Pearl Harbor. 12, 1942?” he said, missing the actual date by a year and a few days. Never heard of it,” said 28-year-old Michael Terry from Utah as he made his way to a conference on Wednesday morning.īut with a few hints, his memory began to click. The Review-Journal decided to test the veterans’ belief through a series of random interviews near the Strip. “People don’t remember them … even World War I, even World War II is being forgotten.” ![]() “It’ll be forgotten, just like the Civil War, or the Spanish American War,” Hall predicted. Hall, 96, one of the last presidents of the disbanded local chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, also is pessimistic that memories of the attack will persist. military facility in Oahu, Hawaii, on Dec. Nielsen, who was a 19-year-old sailor on the USS Solace hospital ship, and Hall, an 18-year-old Army private who was scrubbing pots and pans when Japan attacked the U.S. “They’ve never heard it, or they’ve read it but they don’t believe it. “Today, if you walk out on the street and talk to X number of people and (say) do you believe what President Roosevelt said all those years back? Most people don’t know,” said Nielsen, 97. Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow Nielsen and Edward Hall, believed to be the last two survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor living in Las Vegas, aren’t sure that the lessons from the “date which will live in infamy” will withstand the test of time. The building was strafed by Japanese aircraft and still shows the scars.Lenoard Nielsen, a 93-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, poses for a portrait at his home in Las Vegas Thursday, Dec. It is now a Cryptologic command for special mission support. Some in the audience were nurses at the Navy Hospital where many of the wounded were brought. These are some of the Pearl Harbor survivors and their families who traveled to Hawaii for a remembrance ceremony one year. His son brought his ashes out from South Carolina. Since burials at sea had become prohibited, I had to obtain special permission from the Fleet Commander to get a destroyer underway for the service. ![]() ![]() Another we buried at sea outside Pearl Harbor per his wishes because, as a Pearl Harbor attack survivor, he did not feel worthy to be interred with those who died there. I was privileged to have presided over a number of services on the Arizona Memorial, one where a recently deceased had his urn of ashes placed within the ship by Navy divers. My wife and I were fortunate to have been stationed in Hawaii in he late 60s and then from 1999-0ct 2002 while I was stationed on the staff of the Commander, Pacific Fleet. ![]()
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