HONOLULU — On Thursday, Dec. 7, the National Park Service and U.S. Navy will host the 76th Anniversary National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Commemoration Ceremony to honor and remember the 2,390 American casualties lost during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and on the island of Oahu, Dec. 7, 1941.
HONOLULU — On Thursday, Dec. 7, the National Park Service and U.S. Navy will host the 76th Anniversary National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Commemoration Ceremony to honor and remember the 2,390 American casualties lost during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and on the island of Oahu, Dec. 7, 1941.
The ceremony will begin at 7:50 a.m. and take place on the ceremonial lawn at the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. Pearl Harbor survivors, World War II veterans, family members and local dignitaries will be in attendance. Steve Twomey, author of “Countdown to Pearl Harbor,” will deliver the keynote.
A moment of silence will be observed at 7:55 a.m., the exact moment the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began. The guided missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon will render pass-in-review honors to the USS Arizona and all Pearl Harbor survivors. A missing-man flyover conducted by the 199th Fighter Squadron Hawaii Air National Guard and the 19th Fighter Squadron, U.S. Air Force, will follow.
“We are honored to welcome survivors, veterans and witnesses to this year’s ceremony,” said World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument Superintendent Jacqueline Ashwell in a press release. “As we gather together on December 7, we remember, honor and seek to understand the events that took place 76 years ago.”
This year’s theme, “Rising to the Challenge,” highlights events during the first year after the attack.
Highlights of the ceremony will also include music by the Navy’s Pacific Fleet Band, a Hawaiian blessing, wreath presentations, a rifle salute by the U.S. Marine Corps, a vintage aircraft flyover, and echo taps in recognition of the men and women who survived the attack and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country on Dec. 7, 1941.
It is most fitting that the USS Chung-Hoon, DDG93, has been selected to render appropriate honors to the USS Arizona on December 7, 2017. The USS Chung-Hoon is named after my uncle, Read Admiral Gordon Pai’ea Chung-Hoon, (Ret), the first of Chinese-Hawaiian ancestry and native of Hawai’i to graduate from the Naval Academy and to reach the level of Rear Admiral. Uncle Gordon on December 7, 1941, was a member of the crew of the USS Arizona as a gunnery officer. He had been granted leave for that week-end and had been repairing furniture with his wife, Anita, at his parents house on Ohua Ave in Waikiki Saturday night. On learning of the attack, he raced to Pearl Harbor to assist with defensive actions and rescue operations. Later, during WWII, he would captain the USS Sigsbee, DD502, which was severally damaged by attacking kamikaze aircraft during the Battle of Okinawa. For his heroic actions in saving the ship and its crew, Uncle Gordon was awarded the Navy Cross.
USS Chung-Hoon — an auspicious and appropriate selection to render honors to the USS Arizona on December 7, 2017. Imua e na Koa Kai.