‘The Greatest Generation’: Pearl Harbor heroes remembered in poignant Stockton ceremony
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Luneta Post 52, American Legion Karl Ross Post 16 and American Legion Ed Stewart Post 803, which have been teaming up to hold an observance of Pearl Harbor Day for the past several years near the WWII Memorial at McLeod Lake Park in downtown Stockton, gathered to remember the 81st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Wednesday, Dec. 7.
Wreaths were gently tossed into the lake in remembrance of the lives lost in the 1941 attack by the Japanese Empire on the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which signaled the entry of the U.S. into the war.
This is the second year that there were no survivors of the attack able to attend the Stockton ceremony. Many veterans of that era have aged and passed away in recent years.
97-year-old Frank Wright did not serve at Pearl Harbor but attended the Stockton ceremony. Wright, a WWII Marine veteran who fought at Iwo Jima in the Pacific, resented the era’s veterans and saluted his fallen comrades at the remembrance.
Dec. 7, 1941: America remembers devastating attack on Pearl Harbor
“The VFW and the American Legion’s purpose is not to let our fellow veterans ever be forgotten,” said VFW Luneta Post 52 Adjutant San Pachuca. “Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Pearl Harbor Day are extremely meaningful. We’re losing 234 WWII veterans a day. There are about 167,000 of them alive today. It means in less than two years there won’t be any WWII veterans left. That makes it more important for us to remember the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation.”
Record photographer Clifford Oto has photographed Stockton and San Joaquin County for more than 38 years. He can be reached at coto@recordnet.com or on Instagram @Recordnet. Follow his blog at recordnet.com/otoblog. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Pearl Harbor Day heroes remembered in Stockton
