Pearl Harbor vets honored during ceremony at Intrepid Museum

99th Readiness Division
Story by Staff Sgt. Shawn Morris

Date: 12.07.2012
Posted: 12.08.2012 10:32
News ID: 98984
Pearl Harbor vets honored during ceremony at Intrepid Museum

MANHATTAN, N.Y. - Service members and civilian gathered to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor during a wreath-laying ceremony held on the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s Pier 86 in Manhattan, Dec. 7.

Maj. Gen. William D. Razz Waff, commanding general of the Army Reserve’s 99th Regional Support Command, and veteran Dan Fruchter, survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, attacks on Pearl Harbor, served as keynote speakers for the event.

“These men who are here today volunteered to do their duty for God and County so everyone else could get the benefits of living in our country,” Fruchter said of his fellow Pearl Harbor veterans. “How many people do you know of who believe duty, honor and county is so important; these men do.”

“Thank you for your service and your sacrifice; we are forever in your debt,” Waff said to the Pearl Harbor veterans. “You put down your ploughshares, picked up your swords and sailed both east and west to defeat the Axis powers.”

“The sacrifices made by these men and their colleagues 70 years ago foreshadowed the sacrifices being made by today’s generation of warriors who have followed in their footsteps,” he continued. “Their legacy of proud and honorable service lives on in each and every one of them.”

The event was highlighted by the placing of a memorial wreath in the Hudson River. More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the Pearl Harbor attacks, with another 1,300 being wounded.

“Many of your fellow service members never got to taste the fruits of freedom they fought so hard to defend,” Waff said to the Pearl Harbor veterans. “Their sacrifice – which is the ultimate sacrifice any service member can make – will never be forgotten, and it is events such as this that keep their memory alive.”

Waff also presented each of the Pearl Harbor veterans with a 99th RSC command coin.

“Those of us who wear our nation’s uniform today stand on your shoulders,” he concluded.