United States Coast Guard Auxiliary 7th District Breeze - USCGAUX ...

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28 U. Volume S. Coast LVIII Guard Auxiliary Issue 1 District Spring 7 2012 Breeze 28 Background photo: U.S. Navy Archives By Dorothy Riley. Photos by Brian Lichtenstein FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, 353 Japanese fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes launched in two waves from six aircraft carriers of the Japanese Imperial Navy and attacked Pearl Harbor. This event thrust the United States into World War II. Pearl Harbor Day commemorates the sacrifices of U.S. servicemen killed and wounded during the attack on Pearl Harbor. As in previous years, Broward Navy Days and the Naval Sea Cadets held a Pearl Harbor Day ceremony hosted by Station Fort Lauderdale. The 2011 ceremony was special in that it was both the 70 th Anniversary of that infamous event and the final year of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. The number of survivors grows fewer every year as its members succumb to age. All are now well over eighty and most over ninety years old. Two survivors, John Zurli and Abe Stein, attended the ceremony at Station Fort Lauderdale. Also in attendance were members of the Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale and Division 3 Coast Guard Auxiliary. Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca was the keynote speaker. The ceremony included several touching tributes including the playing of Taps, participation by a contingent of the Coast Guard Pipe Band, and a wreath laying in honor of those who did not survive that day. LT Paul Turner, Commanding Officer, Station Ft. Lauderdale, United States Coast Guard, and Commissioner LaMarca jointly tossed the wreath into the waters of Port Everglades. The memory of the attack on Pearl Harbor should not be erased by time. In 1941, war raged on both the European and Asian continents, and despite pleas for military assistance from the Allied Forces, our nation avoided direct involvement. While the Axis Powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan invaded their neighbors, the United States, officially neutral, provided supplies to our European partners. All claims to neutrality evaporated on December 7, 1941, with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Days later, Hitler declared war against our nation and we found ourselves engaged in wars across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In the attack on Pearl Harbor alone, all eight U.S. Navy battleships in port were damaged, four of which were sunk. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. One hundred eighty-eight U.S. Continued on page 29
Volume LVIII Issue 1 Spring 2012 29 Continued from page 28 aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed, and 1,282 wounded, and that was all on a single day! World War II involved most of the world’s nations and is the deadliest conflict in human history. It resulted in fifty to seventy million fatalities and ushered in the nuclear era. For these reasons, Americans must never forget December 7, 1941.Ω Top and boom le: A Guardsman plays Taps to honor the lives lost during the aack on Pearl Harbor. Sea Cadets prepare to present the colors During the 2011 Pearl Harbor Remembrance ceremony. Top right: Pearl Harbor survivors John Zurli and Abe Stein are escorted to the water’s edge by Sea Cadet Commander Alan Starr and Mary Anne Gray from Broward Navy Days. Right: Auxiliary members (from right) Marie Duda (38), Pat Feighery (36), Ed Duda (38), Marvin Merrit (34), Steve Petrozella (34), Ma Rubin (37), and Paul Dala (37) were among the members who aended the Pearl Harbor Remembrance ceremony. All photos by Brian Lichtenstein
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United States Coast Guard Auxiliary 7th District Breeze - USCGAUX ...

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