Pearl Harbor attack, 'a date which will live in infamy,' remembered in Sturgeon Bay ceremony

STURGEON BAY − Dale Wiegand of Sturgeon Bay served in a U.S. Navy submarine from 1975-1979, stationed at Ford Island, a tiny piece of land in the center of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

It's where the Navy had stationed ships on Dec. 7, 1941.

That's when a surprise Sunday morning attack by Japanese air forces on Pearl Harbor destroyed three of those ships, severely damaged another 16 and killed about 2,400 people, including 39 civilians. The attack also destroyed 169 Navy and Army Air Corps aircraft and damaged 159 more.

One of the destroyed vessels was the battleship USS Arizona, which exploded apparently after bomb strikes and was torn in half before sinking. In that attack, 1,177 of the 1,512 servicemen on board died, and the bodies of more than 900 remain underwater in the wreckage of the Arizona, which has been made into a national memorial.

Wiegand, who is state commander of the AMVETS Department of Wisconsin, said while serving on the sub, he and its crew passed by the remains of the Arizona "probably a thousand times." That's part of the reason he was touched by a special ceremony held on the Sturgeon Bay waterfront Wednesday to commemorate the country's observance of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

"It was moving, brought back a lot of memories," Wiegand said.

About 60 people were on the pier behind the Door County Maritime Museum for the inaugural event, including about two dozen veterans who'd served in peacetime and in conflicts ranging back to the Korean War. Representatives and personnel from all three U.S. Coast Guard units based in Sturgeon Bay were present.

The memorial event was the brainchild of Kevin Osgood, president of the Greater Green Bay Council of the U.S. Navy League, which sponsored the ceremony, and executive director of the maritime museum. Osgood delivered a speech in which he related how the Pearl Harbor attack made a powerful impact on him as a young Navy sailor.

Osgood said he was stationed on a destroyer that cruised into Pearl Harbor in 1984, and he was struck by an unusually moving feeling as the ship neared the remains of the Arizona and he realized they were approaching the watery grave of more than 900 sailors.

"The vibration of those engines under your feet is like a heartbeat," Osgood said. "As we sailed into the harbor (and approached the Arizona), you would swear our captain put our engines on full stop, because it felt that way."

It's important for Sturgeon Bay, the state's only official Coast Guard City and with its own noteworthy maritime history, to play host to this ceremony, he said. The city's shipyards churned out vessels for the government during World War II, Osgood said, and chartered buses at one point were bringing workers to and from the yards 24 hours a day. The museum ran an exhibit in early 2020, "Built for Battle," that focused on the 42 patrol craft-class ships and 17 sub chasers built during the war at Leathem Smith and Peterson Boat Works, as well as how the community functioned during that time.

"At one point, they were turning out a ship every five days here, incredible for a community of this size," Osgood said.

Osgood also mentioned the wartime role of the tug John Purves, which the museum owns and has docked in the water outside. When Pearl Harbor happened, the tug, then named the Butterfield, was in Duluth, Minnesota, working for a paper company. The Army then took over the tug and converted it into the LT-145, which was used off Alaska as a mobile weather station and to bring supplies to garrisons in the Aleutian Islands.

"It really did some heavy lifting during the war," Osgood said of John Purves.

At one time during, he added, the war the Navy had two aircraft carriers just offshore in Lake Michigan for training purposes.

The event Wednesday, held exactly 81 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, featured a presentation of the colors by a color guard made up of Coast Guard members with Sturgeon Bay Fire and Police department members, recognition of veterans on hand and speeches by Osgood and Mayor David Ward. That led up to the commemoration that started at 11:55 a.m. Sturgeon Bay time, which is the time the attack started in Pearl Harbor.

At 11:55, eight bells were sounded, which is how the Navy signals the end of a watch; Osgood said for the ceremony the bells also signified the lives lost at Pearl Harbor. The Coast Guard cutter Mobile Bay, stationed in Sturgeon Bay, sounded the master's salute on its whistle, followed by a moment of silence. That was broken by the Mobile Bay sounding general quarters, a rifle salute and playing of "Taps" by American Legion Post 11 of Green Bay, a laying of memorial wreaths and a signing of the Navy hymn "Eternal Father."

Jerry Willems of Dyckesville, a Marine from 1962 to '65 who is a Legion Post 11 member and was part of the ceremony's color guard, said it was fitting for his post to take part. The post is named Sullivan-Wallen Post 11, and the "Wallen" in the name is Earl Wallen, a Green Bay man who was aboard the USS California in Pearl Harbor during the attack and was one of the 2,400 killed.

"I thought (the ceremony) was nice, to remember what happened there and give tribute to the people that died," Willems said.

The ceremony came together on remarkably short notice − one week. Osgood said the idea came to him while doing research at the museum to determine if any ships built or modified in Sturgeon Bay were in Pearl Harbor that day. He couldn't find a definite ansswer, but in realizing that a ship from Sturgeon Bay could've been there, he checked around and learned no Pearl Harbor ceremonies were taking place in the area.

"It was just a week ago when we hatched the idea," he said. "But everyone got on board, and it's taken off."

Afterward, Osgood and others involved said the ceremony went smoothly, they were happy with the turnout and will bring it back next year and for years to come.

"We hope today that our inaugural event here in Sturgeon Bay becomes an annual tradition," Osgood said. "What happened (at Pearl Harbor) changed our nation, changed the world and changed our community."

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Pearl Harbor attack remembered in Sturgeon Bay ceremony