A Terrible Day ‘We Must Never Forget’

About 2,000 sailors, veterans, community leaders and guests bowed their heads Wednesday in remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor that hurled the U.S. into World War II in 1941.

Four F-15s flown by the Hawaii Air National Guard roared above the bay, including one jet that veered off from the group to symbolize the 2,390 people killed. The destroyer Chaffee passed by the sunken battleship Arizona, where more than 900 sailors remain entombed.

The crowd, which included about 20 Pearl Harbor survivors, observed a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. -- the time the surprise attack began.

“Dec. 7, 1941, was not just a day of infamy. In many ways it was a day of discovery for America and for the world. It changed us, it hurt us, it made us stronger -- as did Sept. 11,” said Adm. Michael G. Mullen, head of naval operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“It did not defeat us. That is why we return here, why we will always return. And that is why we must never forget the events and sacrifices of that terrible day.”

Survivors later laid wreaths in honor of ships that were destroyed in the attack. Trumpeters from the Pacific Fleet Band played taps.

The crowd gathered on a grassy area outside the visitors’ center from which tourists take boats to the Arizona Memorial, erected over the sunken battleship.

The attack on Pearl Harbor and other military bases on Oahu lasted two hours, leaving 21 U.S. ships heavily damaged and 323 aircraft damaged or destroyed.

Gilbert Meyer was 18 and asleep aboard the Utah when a torpedo slammed into his ship. A second torpedo jolted him awake and rolled the Utah over, forcing the crew to scramble out.

“The Japanese planes came over and the bullets starting hitting the hull, and it made such a noise I knew I had to get the hell out,” said Meyer, 82. “Battleship row was all smoke.... You just can’t describe the chaos that existed that day.”

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) told the crowd that America “stood up and changed the course of history for mankind” after the attack.

“It was a day when weaker souls would have surrendered. Out of the ashes and oil, out of the waters came a resilience, lessons of determination, an unwavering spirit of the American people,” Inouye said.