President George Bush marked the 2001 anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by declaring December 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. He flew to Virginia to give a speech aboard the USS Enterprise. He focused mainly on the threat of terrorism, but commented on the current relationship of Japan and the United States saying,
“Today our two navies are working side by side in the fight against terror. The bitterness of 60 years ago has passed away. The struggles of our war in the Pacific now belong to history.”
transcript of President Bush’s speech from Washington Post
USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL Oahu, Hawaii
The state of Hawaii and local businesses helped 600 New York City police officers, fire and family members of victims of September 11 attend the Pearl Harbor memorial services. The USS Arizona Memorial was closed to the public for ceremonies for Pearl Harbor survivors, their families, and guests. Twenty-one survivors from the USS Arizona attended with other veterans of Pearl Harbor, many wearing garrison caps with their ships’ names. Flowers were tossed “into the water to float amid the rainbow of oil still leaking from the USS Arizona.”
source A Date Which Will Live
NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETERY Punchbowl Crater Honolulu, Hawaii
Remembrances at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl Crater began at 10 a.m., The ceremony included “missing man” and B-52 bomber fly-overs, wreath laying, a joint color guard and a Marine Corps artillery salute.
Widows, children and other family members of rescue workers killed on September 11 were invited to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association ceremony on Dec. 7 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
The director Gene Castagnetti said, “Hopefully, they can look to the Pearl Harbor survivors as an example of how to cope with this burden that they will carry for the rest of their lives.” They “could learn from the Pearl Harbor survivors and from the family members of those who did not survive about how to cope with that loss, knowing that to honor the spirit of your loved one, they would want you to go on and live the ideals of this nation.” quoted from Honolulu Star Bulletin, December 2, 2001
60th anniversary public events
60 Years Later, Pearl Harbor’s Arizona Haunts Visitors
This year 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. For more information, check this website, National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2016
Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu 