WATSONVILLE — It has been 77 years since the Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese warplanes killed 2,335 people and embroiled the U.S. in WWII.
Over the ensuing years, the service members and others who survived the event — and the war that followed — have gathered on what became known as Pearl Harbor Day for a shared sense of camaraderie.
“It was the most significant event of the 20th century,” said Jim Hagan. “Certainly in the U.S., and probably the world.”
A little more than a dozen people gathered at the California Grill Friday to commemorate the day, a group that included about three Pearl Harbor survivors, along with family members and veterans who served in other wars.
These meetings continue despite a rapidly dwindling population of WWII veterans. According to US Department of Veterans Affairs, 496,777 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are alive in 2018.
Bob Erbe served aboard a submarine in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, from 1965-68, and was stationed among other places in Pearl Harbor.
He said he began coming to the Pearl Harbor survivors meetings with a friend, a WWII survivor who served in a submarine in that war. But he said he kept coming after finding a community of like-minded veterans.
“Once you get hooked up, you want to continue it,” he said. “You want to keep that history alive.”
Sally Leach said that her husband served in the military, as did two brothers and a brother-in-law. She comes to the meetings in hopes they will continue by honoring veterans from other wars.
“My husband joined at 16, and said it made him into a man,” she said. “That’s God calling in their lives, and they fought to protect our freedom. That’s why we’re all here. We want to hear from the guys from WWII while they are still here.”
