Photo By Kristen Wong | Guests at the annual Kaneohe Klipper Memorial Ceremony hear a speech by Ret. Brig....... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, Hawaii - With a clear sky and a bright morning sun, the base remembered its eighteen sailors and two civilian contractors lost on “the date which will live in infamy,” in front of the Kaneohe Klipper Monument, Dec. 7.
Eight minutes before the massive destruction of then-Naval Station Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Imperial Fleet first attacked then-Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, leaving 27 of 33 PBY seaplanes and most of Hangar 1 damaged or destroyed.
“We honor those sailors and Marines who lost their lives here on Dec. 7, 1941 as well as those who fought here that day and may have perished since that time,” said retired Brig. Gen. Jerome T. Hagen, this year’s guest speaker.
During morning colors, Marine Corps League members, the former Marines of the Chosin Few and other guests saluted “Old Glory” as it was placed at half mast.
Col. Robert Rice, base commanding officer, said watching the flag rise, gazing through the monument to the Koolau Mountains and hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” performed by the U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific Band gave him chills.
“The little hairs that I have left on the back of my neck stand up,” Rice said. Marines and sailors of Headquarters Battalion and Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay stood at attention as Hagen, Rice and Navy Capt. David Cutter, commodore, Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 2, adjusted the wreath in front of the monument.
Each of the fallen personnel was named, and a bell was rung in their honor. A rifle detail fired a three volley salute followed by the playing of taps.
Several members of the audience said they still remember where they were the day of the attacks.
Hagen, author of the “War in the Pacific” series, was 9 years old in North Dakota when he rode his bike to town with a friend on Dec. 7, 1941.
“My uncle was down at the school yard. He raised the flag all the way up and brought it down half mast,” Hagen said. “I went in and said ‘what’s the occasion?’ Well, he said Pearl Harbor has been attacked and the president has declared it a day of infamy and ordered all flags to fly at half mast.”
Bill Haney, a former Marine and member of the Marine Corps League Aloha Detachment, has attended many memorial ceremonies both here and on the mainland. Marine Corps Base Hawaii is special to Haney, who retired here in 1974 and still lives in nearby Kaneohe.
“I try not to miss any of the ceremonies out here,” Haney said. “They’re so meaningful.”
The monument, donated by the Kaneohe Klipper Association, names all personnel who died while supporting the base during the attacks.
Though the association disbanded in 2007, the base continues this tradition annually.
| Date Taken: | 12.10.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 12.10.2010 14:39 |
| Story ID: | 61700 |
| Location: | KANEOHE, US |
| Web Views: | 288 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Remembering Dec. 7 at site of first attacks, by Kristen Wong, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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