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A pledge to never forget Pearl Harbor

On attack's 69th anniversary, promise is made to survivors.

Survivor Nelson Mitchell, 90, of Phoenix, walks with a wreath to the Arizona Anchor Memorial on Tuesday. More at the memorial website via http://go.philly.com/pearl.
Survivor Nelson Mitchell, 90, of Phoenix, walks with a wreath to the Arizona Anchor Memorial on Tuesday. More at the memorial website via http://go.philly.com/pearl.Read moreROSS D. FRANKLIN / Associated Press
    by By Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press, Inquirer
    Published 

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - Aging Pearl Harbor survivors on Tuesday heard reassurances that their sacrifice would be remembered and passed on to future generations as they gathered to mark the 69th anniversary of the attack.

"Long after the last veteran of the war in the Pacific is gone, we will still be here telling their story and honoring their dedication and sacrifice," National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis told about 120 survivors who traveled to Hawaii from around the country for the event.

Merl Resler, 88, of Newcastle, Calif., was among those who returned. He remembered firing shots at Japanese planes from the USS Maryland and standing in the blood of a shipmate hit by shrapnel during the attack.

"My teeth was chattering like I was freezing to death, and it was 84 degrees temperature. It was awful frightful," Resler said.

On Tuesday, fighter jets from the Montana Air National Guard flew above Pearl Harbor in missing-man formation to honor those killed in the attack, which sunk the USS Arizona and with it, nearly 1,000 sailors and Marines. In all, about 2,400 service members died.

Sailors lined the deck of the USS Chafee and saluted as the guided-missile destroyer passed between the sunken hull of the Arizona and the grassy landing where the remembrance ceremony was held.

After the ceremony, the survivors, some in wheelchairs, passed through a "Walk of Honor" lined by saluting sailors, Marines, airmen, and soldiers to enter a new $56 million visitor center that was dedicated at the ceremony.

"This facility is the fulfillment of a promise that we will honor the past," Jarvis said.

The Park Service built the new center because the old one, which was built on reclaimed land in 1980, was sinking into the ground. The old facility was also overwhelmed by its popularity: it received 1.6 million visitors each year, about twice as many as it was designed for.

People often had to squeeze by one another to view the photos and maps in its small exhibit hall. In comparison, the new center has two spacious exhibition halls with room for more people, as well as large maps and artifacts such as antiaircraft guns.