Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941
WWII veteran, Larry Moll, 82, looks back on the Honolulu Star from December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan.
"That says, WAR Oahu bombed by Japanese planes," Moll said while reading the headline of the paper.
69 years ago, at approximately 7:55 a.m. the Pearl Harbor U.S. Navy Base in Hawaii was attacked taking the lives of 2,390 Americans, nearly half of those casualties were aboard the USS Arizona.
"Those Navy boys were in their bunks," Moll said. "The Arizona took nine minutes to sink, as big as that was... 500 some feet long."
The paper shows several images of that tragic day in 1941.
"It's terrible what that sneak attack did," Moll said.
The sneak attack against Pearl Harbor usher the United States into World War II.
"You know we weren't even at war with Japan when this happened," Moll said.
Moll was just 12 years old when the attack occurred... "I was at work," Moll said. "But when I was old enough I went to service, I was a guard patrolman."
Today, 69 years after the attack, Pearl Harbor and USS Arizona Memorial is one of the most visited memorials in the U.S. with 1,500,000 visitors annually. But on this date in history, Larry says he'd still like to see a Pearl Harbor memorial in the nation's capitol.
"Maybe one out of ten people in have been over to see it and I believe they should have one in the capitol where the WWII monument is and so forth," Moll said.
And looking back on the Honolulu Star, December 7, 1941, Moll wants to encourage everyone to say a prayer.
"There are not many of the old boys left," Moll said. "They're getting fewer."
On this day, December 7th, everyone is encouraged to lower their flags to half staff as we remember the lives lost at Pearl Harbor.
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