66th Pearl Harbor anniversary remembered

WILMINGTON -- It was 66 years ago today that the US became embroiled in World War II.

On this day in 1941, Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor. This afternoon in Wilmington local survivors were honored for their service.

Overall, 2,388 Americans died in the attacks, including some 900 still entombed in the sunken USS Arizona.

Today's ceremony in Battleship Park drew local survivors, veterans and civilians who witnessed the attacks to reflect on what happened. But survivors will tell you that events like this are not for them. They're for those who didn't make it. A few of them were from right here in Wilmington.

Naval historian Wilbur Jones said, "Three Wilmington boys were killed at Pearl Harbor. We had two Wilmington boys, both New Hanover High School graduates, who were airborne that day. Wilmington was represented on land, sea, and in the air."

In Hawaii today survivors of each of the nine battleships bombed in the attack took turns setting wreaths before life preservers bearing the names of their ships.

Many of the survivors NewsChannel 3 spoke with today were just teenagers at the time.
They said they didn't have time to be scared, they just did their jobs.