Ocalans remember Pearl Harbor
The annual event to recognize the Dec. 7, 1941, attack in Hawaii recalled the memory of the late local veteran Jack Edge, who was stationed on a ship in the harbor at the time.
Henry DeGeneste, right, a former superintendent of the New York Port Authority Police Department, shakes hands with Howard Mautner, 100, a World War II veteran, during the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day event held Dec. 7, 2024, at the Marion County Commissioners Auditorium. [Photo by Andy Fillmore]
Be vigilant.
That warning, given by the late Jack Edge, a former Ocala resident and survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which drew America into World War II, was echoed at the 2024 Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day event held at the Marion County Commissioners Auditorium on Dec. 7, 2024.
The attack 83 years ago began just before 8 a.m. and claimed the lives of 2,403 American service members and civilians, 129 Japanese soldiers and wounded 1,178 people, according to the Oct. 29, 2009, article “Pearl Harbor” at history.com.
The article states that 20 U.S. naval vessels and 300 planes were destroyed or damaged. The assembly of “almost the entire Pacific Fleet and relatively undefended” at Pearl Harbor was an “irresistible and easy target for the Japanese military,” the article indicates.
Jeffrey Askew, director of Marion County Veterans Services, opened the proceedings and Roderick Barker, U.S. Army retired, offered an invocation and benediction. North Marion Air Force JROTC cadets provided a color guard.
Morrey Deen, a former Ocala police chief and retired Army major, spoke of Edge’s service and about instilling vigilance into the next generation.
Edge, who died in 2021 at age 97, was a regular presence at Pearl Harbor remembrance events here. He was already in the U.S. Navy and serving on a submarine tender stationed near the battleships on Dec. 7, 1941. He was in the ship’s sick bay under medical care for an upcoming appendix removal when the attack occurred. He immediately responded to his battle station with all the others in the medical unit, Deen said.
Deen added that Edge, an Ocala resident for about 20 years, did not have his appendix removed until decades later.
“Young folks, the next generation must be made aware the attack on Pearl Harbor is reality, fact and true … and in all likelihood will happen again,” Deen said.
Deen pointed out a guest at the event, Henry DeGeneste, former superintendent of the New York Port Authority Police Department. DeGeneste was scheduled to be at the site of the terrorist attacks on Sept.11, 2001, but ended up not being there when the planes struck.
Gorham Black III, a U.S. Army Col., retired, speaks during the POW/MIA Recognition ceremony at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.
“The dastardly attack galvanized public opinion,” he said, adding that “we don’t (usually) agree on much.”
Black detailed the human and material losses in the two hour “hit and run” attack. He said the surprise attack motivated America to improve military intelligence methods.
Black gave a number of personal insights from his military career, including when he was assigned to a command position in the 1970s at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. He said he was driving near the site of the Pearl Harbor attack with his wife, Aster, when he suddenly heard planes coming in and loud booms. He stopped his car and threw himself over his wife to protect her. Black said he later learned the movie “Tora, Tora, Tora,” about the 1941 attack, was being filmed at the location.
Black claimed that many American youth do not know the country’s history or understand global geography but he said, “it’s our fault” because it is “not taught” and not knowing history we could be “doomed to repeat it.”
Black discussed the internment of Japanese people in the U.S. during World War II and the “racial fear” involved. He also talked about Doris Miller, a Black U.S. sailor who was stationed in the galley of a ship that was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941.
Miller manned a .50 caliber machine gun and fired at enemy planes and was awarded the Navy Cross in 1942 for “courageous conduct and devotion to duty during the attack,” according to history.navy.mil. The website states that Miller died in 1943 when his ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine in the Gilbert Islands.
Black said the Navy initiated a review of Miller’s case for additional decorations and that the carrier CVN-81 has been named in honor of Miller.
“USS Doris Miller (CVN 81) will be the first aircraft carrier named for an enlisted sailor and the first named for an African American,” the website states.
Black concluded his remarks by saying that, “The attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, stands as a pivotal moment in history that reshaped the course of the United States and the world. This singularly tragic even not only resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and significant naval assets but also served as a catalyst for profound changes in American military strategy, foreign policy, race relations and national identity.”
An honored guest at the event was Howard Mautner, 100, a World War II veteran. He served in the Army Air Corps as an air traffic controller. He said his brother joined the service following the Pearl Harbor attack and that he joined later. Mautner was accompanied by his friends Tom Cochran and Vietnam War-era veteran Richard Bell.
Charles Whitehead, a U.S. Air Force veteran, read a proclamation from President Ronald Reagan that said in part, “We live in a world made more free, more just and more peaceful by those who will answer roll call no more, those who will report for muster never again. We do remember Pearl Harbor.”
U.S. Army veteran Bill Ehrhart played taps at the close of the remembrance day event and Askew reminded the attendees to “be vigilant.”
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