Remembering the Seventh

Boy Scout Declan Cunningham remembers the events of Pearl Harbor as veterans Jerry Imbo and Charles Johansen bow their heads. PHOTOS BY ERIC GROSS World War II veteran Charles Johansen remembered Pearl Harbor Monday while addressing a ceremony at the Carmel Veterans Hall.

Three dozen people, including members of Carmel Boy Scout Troop 14, attended the observance that commemorated the 68th anniversary of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor resulting in the deaths of some 3,500 men and women— the same number killed on September 11 at the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

Johansen, 85, was a teenager in 1941: “We were hanging around on that Sunday when my friend’s dad told us that Pearl Harbor had just been attacked. None of us knew where Pearl Harbor was or what it stood for. From then on chaos reigned. Youngsters aged 17 and 18 were sent off to war. The world changed that day forever. We old timers believed nothing could ever top that vicious attack. September 11 proved us wrong.”

Vets Todd Haviland and Russell Bleakley place a wreath on the Lake Mahopac shoreline. Meanwhile in Mahopac, services at the VFW Post carried a solemn theme— “Lest we forget!”

A military roll call was held during which the post chaplain and commander called the name of each ship lost that day while a ship’s bell tolled in memoriam.

Outside the Carmel Veterans Hall, members of the Putnam Valley VFW sounded a cannon—a deafening noise that echoed across Lake Gleneida— while in Mahopac a wreath was laid along the Lake Mahopac waterfront to commemorate the occasion.
Mahopac veterans hold a commemorative flag that flew on the U.S.S. Arizona as well as a newspaper headline announcing the destruction at Pearl Harbor. The vets include (l-r) Bernard Boccia, Russell Bleakley, Raymond Callinan, Raymond Matthews, Albert Hicinbothem, and Larry Miller.