Robert Kerr, judge advocate of Hopkins County Marine Corps League, Detachment #1357, opened the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony on the downtown square in Sulphur Springs Dec. 7, with a welcome, invocation and Pledge of Allegiance.
Kerr shared comments and thoughts about Pearl Harbor, which included a review of the events of that historic morning 82 years ago., and a Presidential Proclamation.
He read: “Before dawn on the 7th of December, 1941, undiscovered and with diplomatic prospects at an end, Vice Commander Chuichi Nagumo had placed his Pearl Harbor Striking Force of first-line aircraft carriers as well as battleships, cruisers, destroyers and tankers along with submarines and midget submarines less than 300 miles north of Pearl Harbor. At 6 a.m., six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. Even as they flew south, some elements of U.S. forces on Oahu became aware of something different about this Sunday morning. Before dawn, U.S. Navy vessels had spotted a submarine periscope near the entrance to Pearl Harbor, and had attacked it with a destroyer and a patrol plane.”
“At 7 a.m., an alert operator of an Army radar station spotted the approaching first wave of the attack force. However, the report of the submarine sinking was handled routinely, and the radar sighting was passed off as an approaching group of American planes due to arrive that morning. Thus, the Japanese aircraft achieved complete surprise when they hit American ships and military installations on Oahu shortly before 8 a.m., attacking military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The Navy air bases at Ford Island, Kaneohe Bay, the Marine Airfield at Ewa and the Army Air Corps fields at Bellows, Wheeler and Hickham were all bombed and strafed. The purpose of the simultaneous attacks was to destroy the American planes before they could rise to intercept the Japanese.”
“Of the 100 ships in Pearl Harbor, the primary targets were the eight battleships anchored there; seven in Battleship Row and one which lay in drydock across the channel. Within the first minutes of the attack, all the battleships adjacent to Ford Island were hit. Two sank, and one was mortally wounded by an armor-piercing bomb which ignited the ship’s forward magazine of ammunition. The resulting explosion and fire aboard the USS Arizona killed 1,177 crewmen, the greatest loss of life on any ship that day, and approximately half of the total number of Americans killed. All this occurred within the first half-hour of the raid. In the attack, which lasted less than two hours, the American forces had paid a fearful price. 21 ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged. Aircraft losses were 188 lost, and 159 damaged, the majority hit before takeoff. A total of 2,403 American casualties included 68 civilians, most of them killed by improperly- fused anti-aircraft shells landing in Honolulu. There were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.”
“Japanese losses were comparatively light. Though the Japanese success was overwhelming, it was not complete, as Pearl Harbor’s shoreside facilities were not damaged and would play an important role in the Allied victory in World War Two. Most importantly, the shock and anger caused by the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor united a divided nation, resulting in whole-hearted American commitment to victory in WWII.”
Kerr next read the Presidential Proclamation for National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2023.
“Now, therefore, I, Joseph R. Biden Jr. do hereby proclaim December 7, 2023 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. I encourage all Americans to reflect on the courage shown by our brave service members that day and remember their sacrifices. I ask us all to give sincere thanks and appreciation to the survivors of that unthinkable day. I urge all Federal agencies, interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at halfstaff on December 7, 2023 in honor of those American patriots who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.”