Veterans remember attack on Pearl Harbor

MYSTIC, Conn. (WTNH) -- Veterans in Mystic gather to remember those who lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the war which would follow.

At 7:53 on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, 1,178 lay wounded, and 2,403 lay dead or dying. The date will live in infamy, and for the veterans along with their family and friends it is a date they will never forget.

"For the next 44 months thousands of children watched their fathers and mothers answer the call to arms," said Raymond Ross, Mystic VFW.

It is for those families and those who lost their lives that they gather each year at the VFW in Mystic.

"The importance of it is is that it continues," said Dan O'Brien, Post Commander. "We honor those who died, but for us veterans who have seen the war and whatever we also want to honor the living too who are still in harms way."

This tradition of remembering began when this Post was first established in 1947 and it has continued ever since.

Eddie Moreira has a special perspective on that day.

"All you see is planes lying across the house," said Moreira.

He was 10 years old when the attack happened. He and his wife came to the service for the first time because of how much that day still means to him.

"You think about it as people talking about it," Moreira said. "It's really because my mother and father were working at Pearl Harbor when the place was bombed so I didn't know if my mother and father were coming back."

They did come back. Unlike so many others, as Eddie says they were lucky.