Remember Pearl

Morningside, Md. -- As a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Gerald A. Glaubitz has found that returning to the ++ site hasn't been that difficult. That is, until he reaches the Arizona Memorial, which honors the 1,117 sailors and Marines who died when the battleship USS Arizona went down after being struck by a Japanese armor-piercing shell on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941."I've been back several times and Pearl Harbor itself is not too bad to take," says Mr. Glaubitz, 70, who is mayor of Morningside, in Prince George's County.

Washington--It has taken place gradually, so when we stop to realize it, it seems impossible: Most Americans alive today don't remember Pearl Harbor. And because they were not here then, or not old enough to remember, they can never have precisely the feeling about America that is shared by those who were.Never, before or since, have we been so much one country.On everyone who does remember that December 7 and the 1,346 days that followed, the war left a lasting imprint. That applies to those who fought it, and those who stayed behind.

HONOLULU -- In opening the 50th Anniversary of V-J Day ceremonies yesterday, President Clinton made clear that the once-vengeful phrase, "Remember Pearl Harbor," has taken on an entirely new meaning.Fifty years ago, it was a call to arms. It was immortalized in patriotic songs and inspired thousands of Americans to enlist to wreak vengeance on the Japanese.Now, as veterans age and the war fades into history books, it is important to many simply to remember. And to honor.Remember what happened at Pearl Harbor.

Simon J. Knaggs had just sent the eight ball speeding across the pool table when the first bomb exploded outside."The eight ball went into the pocket and that was the end of the game," he said, and the beginning of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.Knaggs was 18 at the time, stationed at an Army barracks at Pearl Harbor. He ran outside and saw fighter planes strafing the base. Bullets ripped into the wall about an inch from his head.Fifty years later, Knaggs says, "I can still see everything right now, the planes, the men dying."

"Remember Pearl Harbor!"Those words united the nation 49 years ago after Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. But today, as veterans of that "day of infamy" pause to mark the anniversary, many fear the rousing cry has all but faded from the minds of most Americans."Nobody remembers it," sighs 68-year-old George W. Waggoner of Essex, one of 165 members of the Maryland chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association (PHSA), made up of men who lived through the aerial attack. When Mr. Waggoner visits public schools to talk about the experience, he is appalled at how little aware young people are of Dec. 7's significance.

Because he has done it before, and because there are not many others able to do it, 84-year-old Bob Van Druff will read the names of this year's dead at tomorrow's Pearl Harbor anniversary service in Annapolis. Five years ago, 18,000 Americans who survived the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing were living members of the national Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. The number has dropped to 6,060 today. In Maryland, only 128 remain, and the youngest among them will soon turn 80. There will not be enough time at tomorrow's ceremony for Van Druff, a Pearl Harbor survivor, to say much about the nine men whose names he will read.

It happened 68 years ago today, but Clarence J.M. Davis can still clearly remember the noise, confusion, frenzied activity and deadliness of the attack that propelled the United States into World War II. The St. Mary's County resident, now 86, is one of a few dozen known survivors of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor who are still alive and living in Maryland. He plans to mark the day, and remember the dead, at a ceremony scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Maryland's World War II Memorial, beside Route 450 near Annapolis.

Seventy years ago today, Japan launched a surprise attack on America's Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, drawing the United States into the second World War. More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack, including four Marylanders, all of whom were serving aboard the U.S.S. Arizona: Fireman 1st Class Howard T. Anderson; Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Clyde J. Rawson; Yeoman 2nd Class Jack M. Restivo; and Shipfitter 3rd Class Victor C. Tambolleo. The war that followed would take a terrible toll - including 770 from Maryland killed, 928 wounded and 18 missing in action.

The veterans listened intently as the bell tolled again and again. Fifteen times it rang, honoring each of 15 known Pearl Harbor survivors from Maryland who died since the previous remembrance of that day of infamy in 1941. No more than 75 Pearl Harbor survivors remain alive in Maryland -- of those, six attended yesterday's annual event in Annapolis, which marked the 66th anniversary of the day Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States, propelling the country into World War II. Veterans of wars in Korea and Vietnam, though, filed in on a shivering, overcast day to let the few remaining Pearl Harbor survivors know their sacrifice of that fateful day had not been forgotten.