RVC honors Pearl Harbor 75 years later

More than two-dozen military veterans from Rockville Centre and neighboring towns gathered at the Mill River Complex Park on a cold and overcast morning. They were there to honor something special – the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It was “a date that would live in infamy” as famously described by president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It was Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese attacked the American Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and brought the United States into a war that would span the entire globe.

The veterans who gathered still rember that day 75 years later, even if some weren’t alive. Most of them didn’t serve that war.

“We can’t forget World War II,” said American Legion Post 303 member Joe Marciano who served in the Army from 1975 to 1978.

“Today, we honor the legacy of the men and women who defended Pearl Harbor,” said Post 303 Commander Frank Colon Jr. “Many are no longer here. It is up to us to keep their legacy alive.”

After the attack, thousands of Americans rushed to enlist. “They responded with strength and resolve to the call to defend our country,” said Mayor Francis X. Murray during his speech at the ceremony.

He drew parallels to the wars the United States finds itself fighting today and asked others to “remember those who are fighting across the world to defend our freedom.”

Each year, it is a national tradition to throw a wreath into a body of water in remembrance of the attack. After his speech, Mayor Murray was handed the flower wreath and threw it into Mill River as Marciano played taps. The flowers disintegrated and the petals floated downstream as the mournful song continued to play.