Regarding Troy Moon’s story in the Pensacola News Journal on December 7, 2011 about Pearl Harbor Survivor, Earline Williams, I read with interest until I got to the paragraph; “There will be no ceremony at the Pensacola Naval Air Station because six of the 11 local military survivors of Pearl Harbor are in Hawaii for the commemoration.â€
If Pensacola Naval Air Station and Pensacola’s premier naval museum chose to let Pearl Harbor day pass without a shred of formal tribute and remembrance, which is unthinkable, it certainly was not because …. “Six Pensacola-area survivors were in Hawaii.†What must the other four survivors have felt; their families as well as regular patriotic civilians who want to remember Pearl Harbor especially on December 7th at the nation’s preeminent naval museum that dropped the ball this year?
Do we simply hold a Pearl Harbor Remembrance ceremony for six men? Who will teach the children? What happens when they are all gone? Do we neatly forget and treat December 7 as just another day?
Our all-volunteer Pearl Harbor Initiative, which safely and successfully just returned from the commemorative ceremonies and activities in Pearl Harbor did what we could to honor and transport as many local survivors back for “One-last Goodbye.†It was powerful and meaningful to these heroes who have given so much to this country. To the sponsors and folks who gave and wished us on to victory in a mission completed; thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Standing at the wall of names on the USS Arizona with men who were actually there and lost brothers, friends, their boyhoods and a piece of themselves that day for love-of-country drove home the message even stronger. “Remember Pearl Harbor. Keep America Alert.â€
Next year I hope to see a formal remembrance once again at our incredible Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola Naval Air Station. If they haven’t anyone willing to go to the effort; I know a great and dedicated crew who would be glad to answer the call.
Holly Shelton
Founder
PearlHarborInitiative.com