Dec 7, 2007 10:20 pm US/Eastern
Pearl Harbor Survivors Honor Comrades
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (CBS) ―
A few dozen graying Pearl Harbor survivors observed a moment of
silence on Friday in honor of their comrades who perished in the
Japanese bombing of Oahu 66 years ago.
Wearing aloha shirts and orchid flower lei, the veterans stood on a
pier overlooking the sunken hull of the USS Arizona and saluted the
flag as a sailor sang "The Star Spangled Banner."
Survivors of each of the nine battleships bombed in the attack took
turns setting wreaths before life preservers bearing the names of their
ships.
"We're honoring the people who were killed. We're not here for
ourselves, we're here for them," said George A. Smith, 83, who was on
board the USS Oklahoma the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.
Overall, 2,388 Americans died in the attacks, including some 900 still entombed in the Arizona.
Hawaii Air National Guard helicopters flew over the harbor in
"missing man" formation in honor of those lost. B-2 stealth bombers
currently deployed to Guam from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri
performed an additional flyby.
The crowd of about 2,000 honored the survivors with a standing ovation and several minutes of loud applause.
Smith, of Olympia, Wash., was standing watch on the Oklahoma when he saw planes darting through the sky over the harbor.
"One plane came in, circled, came right down to us. The guy opened
the hatch to his plane and dropped his torpedo, waved at me and took
off," Smith said. "The next thing I knew there was a big explosion."
He was able to jump overboard, just avoiding being squashed by the capsizing battleship, and then swam ashore.
Smith was among 18 survivors of the Oklahoma who came to Hawaii to
help dedicate a new memorial to the vessel after the main ceremony. The
battleship for years was the only one of the nine bombed 66 years ago
that didn't have it's own memorial, even though it lost 429 sailors and
Marines — more than any battleship in the harbor except the Arizona.
"We finally got a memorial. I think it's about time. I think it's
about time these guys be remembered in a halfway decent way," said
Richard Artley, one of the survivors. His brother died on the ship.
The $1.2 million monument includes 429 white marble standards, each
with the name of a fallen sailor or Marine, surrounded by black granite
panels etched with a silhouette of the battleship and notable quotes
from World War II-era figures that were selected by some of the
survivors.
The memorial, on a grassy knoll on Ford Island in the center of
Pearl Harbor, sits about 50 yards from where the Oklahoma was moored at
the time of the attack. It's likely one of the areas where Oklahoma
survivors swam ashore that day.
The Oklahoma was hit with the first torpedo of the morning assault.
It capsized after being struck by eight more, trapping 400 men in its
overturned hull. About 30 of the trapped men were later rescued by
Pearl Harbor Navy Yard workers who hammered their way through the
ship's metal.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Tucker McHugh, who co-chaired the USS Oklahoma
Memorial Committee, said he thinks the memorial will bring some sense
of closure.
"I think there's been a void in the minds and hearts of these
shipmates that their shipmates were never honored with a lasting
memorial," McHugh said. "Total closure might come when the last
survivor passes away and they're all reunited together."
The memorial was built with donations gathered by survivors and from residents of the ship's namesake state.
Edward Vezey, one of the survivors, said he was "moved to tears" by how Oklahomans responded to the call for help.
"It's just a thrill to witness the great rising of the people there to support this whole effort," Vezey said.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
