PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Veterans who survived the Pearl Harbor attack that launched the United States into World War II attended Sunday’s 73rd anniversary ceremony with the help of canes, wheelchairs and motorized scooters. Wearing purple orchid leis, about 100 Pearl Harbor and World War II survivors attended the ceremony overlooking a memorial that sits atop the sunken battleship USS Arizona. Many of them arrived well before the sun came up.
Keynote speaker Gen. Lori Robinson, commander of Pacific Air Forces, told the crowd of several thousand about four of the nine remaining survivors of the USS Arizona, including Don Stratton, 92, of Colorado Springs.
“When the Arizona sank, she took with her 1,177 sailors and Marines,” she told the crowd, which included Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Hawaii Gov. David Ige.
The ceremony featured a Japanese peace prayer, a Hawaiian blessing and a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the minute the bombing began. F-22s from the Hawaii Air National Guard and Air Force conducted a flyover.
Later in the afternoon, four USS Arizona survivors planned to visit the memorial for a toast to their fallen shipmates with a glass of sparkling wine, using glasses that are replicas of the ones on the ship.
