Pearl Harbor remembrance

Morrey Deen speaks at the annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day held Sunday, December 4. 2022 At the Marion County Board of County Commissioners chambers.

Be vigilant. That was the theme of the annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day program held Sunday, Dec. 4, in the Marion County Board of County Commissioners chambers at the McPherson Governmental Complex in Ocala.

Morrey Deen, a retired U.S. Army major and former chief of the Ocala Police Department, emceed the program and explained that the reminder to be vigilant and remain aware of a possible enemy or terrorist attack was the lifelong message of the late Jack Edge, a U.S. Navy veteran and survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.

Edge, a resident of Ocala for about 15 years, attended the local Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day program for about 10 years before he died on Nov. 28, 2021 at age 97.

Edge and all those who died in, or served in, the attack, were honored in the program.

A video, “Attack on Pearl Harbor: The Pacific War #1 Documentary”, available on YouTube (https://youtu.be/ZzS1ZAulpoY) was shown. It reviewed the history of the air attack by two waves of more than 350 Japanese aircraft on the naval base at Pearl Harbor. The attack, which destroyed scores of U.S. ships and planes and took 2,403 American lives, led to the U.S. entry into World War II.

Deen said it is a “sad commentary” that more people do not make note of the anniversary of the attack and heed Edge’s words.

Edge was aboard the U.S.S. Pelius during the attack. A report on Naval History and Heritage Command states that the combined effort of the crew of the Pelius and two other ships is believed to have downed at least one enemy plane.

Deen, who knew Edge and his family, described how Edge was in the ship’s medical unit when the call came to man battle stations, which he and the others in the unit did immediately. He said Edge was in the medical unit for possible removal of his appendix but the procedure was not performed until years later, after he moved to Ocala.

Program attendees on Sunday included Steve Perry, a Vietnam War veteran, Purple Heart recipient and Marion County Honor Guard member, who wore his Army captain’s dress uniform and Ralph Mueller, a Korean War-era U.S. Air Force veteran and volunteer at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park /Veterans Exhibit and Education Center. Mueller, 89, gave a rendition of “America the Beautiful” on his harmonica.

Korean War era veteran Ralph Mueller,left, gives a rendition of “America the Beautiful” on his harmonica as Jeffrey Askew, Director of Marion County Veterans Services, looks on, at the annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day held Sunday, December 4. 2022.

The program was sponsored and organized by the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park administration and park volunteers. Jeffrey Askew, Director of Marion County Veterans Services, thanked the attendees and closed the program.

For more information, go to marionfl.org