Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - In a moving ceremony Tuesday morning, the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park marked the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
It was on Sunday, December 7, 1941, just before 8:00 AM Hawaii Time, Imperial Japanese airplanes and submarines attacked the United States Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor and the 14th Pursuit Wing at Wheeler Army Airfield.
More than 2,400 American military personnel were killed in the attack.
"Pearl Harbor had a direct impact on Americans across the country, including the five Sullivan brothers who signed up to serve together in the Navy as a result of losing their friend Bill Ball on the USS Arizona in the Japanese attack," said Paul Marzello, President and CEO of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park. "It is important to remember and honor those who were killed in the attacks on Pearl Harbor eighty years ago and also honor our World War II veterans who were sent to war as a result of the attacks."
The commemoration included a wreath-laying ceremony as well as a moving gun salute to mark the somber anniversary.
A gun salute was part of a moving ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Posted by WBEN NewsRadio on Tuesday, December 7, 2021
"The date that will live in infamy was punctuated by two waves of 350 high level bombers, dive bombers, torpedo bombers and protective fighters," said the Naval Parks Shane Stephenson. "The American service members stationed at Pearl Harbor, and families living there, never had a chance."
In Pearl Harbor itself, a few dozen survivors gathered at the site of the Japanese bombing to remember those killed in the attack that launched the U.S. into World War II.
Herb Elfring, 99, said he's glad to return to Pearl Harbor considering he almost didn't live through the aerial assault.
"It was just plain good to get back and be able to participate in the remembrance of the day," Elfring told reporters.
