DECATUR-- The clouds hung low this morning as several WWII veterans paid tribute to Pearl Harbor at the docks on Lake Decatur. 31 years ago today the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Navy; an attack that remains one of the largest and most disastrous attacks in U.S. history.
Dave Freyling and the Veteran’s Assistance Commission held their annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony to honor those that were lost and to remind those who weren’t there.
“We don’t have anyone in Macon County that are Pearl Harbor survivors, which makes it all the more important to remind people of this day. If we don’t we may forget, and it’s important that we never forget.”
Keynote speaker Pete Frank reflected on his youth; saying that he was 16 at the time of the attacks ad he made sure to enlist in the Navy as soon as he could upon graduation from Decatur high school in 1943.
“After I graduated from Decatur High School in 1943 I enlisted in the U.S. Navy. We grew up quick in those days. God, family, and country, those are the things we fought for.”
Freyling added, after the ceremony was over, that while it was important to remember who was lost, it is just as important to get young people involved and have them understand what it was like back in 1941.
