Politics & Government

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Gov. Jerry Brown has proclaimed the day one to "remember with awe the valor of those who defended Pearl Harbor."

Updated 3:15 p.m. with details from the USS Midway Museum ceremony.

Gov. Jerry Brown has issued a proclamation declaring Wednesday to be "Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day."

Seventy years ago today, the Imperial Japanese Navy mounted a surprise attack on our nation’s fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. This assault opened the struggle for control of the Pacific that would claim the lives of over 100,000 Americans. In a speech to Congress the following day, President Roosevelt gave the seventh of December, 1941, its immortal name: “a date which will live in infamy.”

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Today, while still deploring the treachery of one country attacking another without provocation, we remember with awe the valor of those who defended Pearl Harbor, and the many more who answered their country’s call in the ensuing mobilization. The 2,402 members of the armed forces who gave their lives that day will always live in our hearts as true American heroes.

NOW THEREFORE I, EDMUND G. BROWN JR., Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim December 7, 2011, as “Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.”

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 6th day of December 2011.

Locals also took the time to remember those at Pearl Harbor in a ceremony aboard the USS Midway Museum in San Diego on Wednesday.

The 1941 attack led by 353 Japanese planes—fighters, bombers and torpedo planes—killed about 2,400 Americans and thrust the nation into World War II, which had been raging for several years in Europe and Asia.

"When I first heard the explosion of the (battleship USS) Arizona, I thought, "we're in World War II,' and we were," Stuart Hedley, who was 20 at the time, told 10News. He served aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, which was heavily damaged by multiple torpedo hits.

Hedley, the president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, said the anniversary was a reminder to stay alert.

Among those honored were Arnold "Max" Bauer, who was found living in squalor east of El Cajon about a year ago, clutching a photograph of his vessel, the repair ship Vestal, which was adjacent the doomed Arizona.

Bauer, believed to have been 94, died last month at the veterans home in Chula Vista. His caretaker, Milagros Angeles, faces several felony charges.

The ceremony included tossing a wreath into San Diego Bay at 9:55 a.m., to coincide with the time the attack began.

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City News Service contributed to this report. Find us on Facebook and Twitter @RBPatch.


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