Photo By Staff Sgt. Immanuel Johnson | Dodie Neller, a local realtor from East Lansing listens as keynote speaker, Col....... read more read more
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EAST LANSING, Mich. – The City of East Lansing, in conjunction with East Lansing Rotary Club, co-hosted a 75th Anniversary event remembering the attacks on Pearl Harbor at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center, Lansing, Michigan on Dec. 11.
The event featured World War II veterans from the East Lansing area, Mark Meadows, City of East Lansing Mayor, a Marine Corps color guard courtesy of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, 25th Marine Regiment and keynote speaker, Col. Michael Samarov, Commanding Officer, 25th Marine Regiment.
Samarov’s operational experience includes: Operation Southern Watch in the western Pacific and Persian Gulf; Operation Sea Signal in Guantanamo Bay Cuba; and Operation Iraqi Freedom I in the Middle East.
“Pearl Harbor means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. We entered the war, we won and created peace that followed World War II. People that day did not know what would happen in the next 75 years,” said Samarov. “The American people got knocked down pretty hard and had a choice. They could choose to stay down or get up and fight; they made the courageous choice to get up and fight. I think that’s very important for us today.”
Veterans and residents of East Lansing have an understanding of what happened on December 7, 1941, and some helped in any way they could find. One of the East Lansing Rotary Club committee members is Dodie Neller, a local realtor. Once she found out about the attacks, she immediately wanted to assist.
“I remember the Sunday it happened, I was visiting my aunt and we heard it on the news,” said Neller. “I knitted socks for those service members involved.”
“I think it’s a privilege to have the veterans of World War II here today. It’s important because they carry human memories of what happened and those memories are absolutely precious,” said Samarov.
“The next time we celebrate a quarter century of this historic attack, it is highly unlikely that any of these veterans of that attack will be here. That makes this event all the more important, their memories, the ability to question them and go back and forth of what they experienced is human history. They [veterans] honor us and having them here today, that face-to-face interaction is so vital to our nation’s history.”
During the event, a video produced in 2003 featured first-hand accounts from East Lansing-area veterans who served in World War II or were at Pearl Harbor.
“Since those titanic struggles in the Pacific, the Marine Corps has grown into the combined arms force we think of today that cemented amphibious operations as our core competency,” said Samarov. “We do well to recall what those Marines of 75 years ago did after being knocked down to stand back up and fight their way back across the Pacific to final victory. I think that past is important to keep in mind as we look to our future and continue to earn the title to be that fighting force which is most respected and most feared around the world.”
| Date Taken: | 12.11.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.15.2017 09:34 |
| Story ID: | 226888 |
| Location: | EAST LANSING, MI, US |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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