Few remain to remember infamous Pearl Harbor attack 82 years ago today

The Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was 82 years ago today.

With a death toll of more than 2,400, it was the deadliest attack on the United States prior to 9/11 and hastened the country to enter World War II.

Here are a few facts about the attack:

‘Sit down, Grace’

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt initially didn’t call it “a date which will live in infamy.”

An account preserved by the National Archives’ Prologue Magazine describes FDR’s actions after receiving word of the surprise attack.

He prepared a speech with help from his private secretary, Grace Tully, to ask Congress for a declaration of war.

“Sit down, Grace,” Roosevelt said. “I’m going before Congress tomorrow, and I’d like to dictate my message. It will be short.”

Here’s what FDR initially dictated:

“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in world history, the United States was simultaneously and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

He later edited the typescript, lining out “world history” and adding “infamy.” It became a phrase that indelibly marked this touchstone of American history.

And then there was one

Lou Conter, 102, is the last living USS Arizona crew member. Half of Pearl Harbor’s casualties came with the sinking of the Arizona, and oil still leaks from its remains, which have become an American pilgrimage site and tourist attraction.

Conter, who lives in California’s Central Valley, was on watch the day of the attack and was on the quarterdeck station between the ship’s third turret and main deck when the sirens blared during the attack, according to a biographical sketch posted on a USS Arizona survivors’ website.

“I’m not a hero. My fellow crewmates who didn’t make it out alive are the heroes. I’ll never forget them,” Conter said in June, when he was honored with a letter of commendation from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

No known local survivors

George H. Pann, 100, formerly of Harrison’s Natrona Heights section, was the region’s last Pearl Harbor survivor.

He died March 27 in Saxonburg.

Pann was an Army private assigned to the 55th Coast Artillery, Battery E, stationed on the northeast coast of Oahu, he told TribLive in a 2021 interview.

“The Japanese were trying to do as much damage as possible so they could get a good start on World War II,” he told the Trib.

Another Alle-Kiski resident in Oahu was George G. Leslie, 20, a private from Arnold. He was the first Pennsylvanian to be killed in action the day of the attack.

George Leslie Memorial Stadium in Arnold is named for him.

“You think of things like that every once in awhile, and it kinda gets you,” Pann told the Trib in 2021.

He was eating breakfast in the barracks and heard a commotion, then a radio report, then an order for his artillery battery to head north to meet the Japanese attack.

By the time he and the other troops set up, the Japanese were returning to their carriers, Pann said.

But they were dropping bombs along the way.

“We were there to protect the people,” Pann said.

Attack was re-created at Westmoreland airshow

In 2019, a Tora! Tora! Tora! performance by eight planes of the Commemorative Air Force of Morton, Ill., headlined the Westmoreland County air show.

Tora can mean tiger and also is an abbreviation of “totsugeki raigeki.” which means “lightning attack,” according to japantoday.com.

“Tora! Tora! Tora!” also was the title of a 1970 film that included Japanese perspectives on the attack.

The air show reenactment stirred memories for people in the region.

Connellsville resident Russell Miller wondered what his father would have thought of the show.

Merle E. Miller worked for U.S. Steel and was sent to Pearl Harbor to repair ships after the attack, according to his 2007 obituary.

Other facts and figures

• There were 38 sets of brothers on board USS Arizona, including three sets of three brothers. Of those 79 people, 63 died as a result of the attack.

• The second largest loss of life was on the USS Oklahoma, with 429 killed. From December 1941 through June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of those who perished on the Oklahoma. Only 35 men were identified, and nearly 400 unidentified remains were buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

• Hickam Field recorded 191 deaths, including five civilians.

• The USS West Virginia and the USS California reported 106 and 105 killed, respectively.

• Forty-nine civilians were killed, some by the enemy and some by friendly fire.

Source: National Park Service