On a chilly Sunday morning, as partial ice patches clung to the surface of Mill River, Rockville Centre veterans gathered in solemn remembrance of a day that reshaped the world.
Standing side by side with the backdrop of the river in sight, veterans and village and community officials paused once more to honor the thousands lost at Pearl Harbor — more than eight decades after the attack that thrust America into war.
The village’s annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, held in the Centennial Park parking lot, brought together almost 20 veterans from Rockville Centre and nearby areas along with village officials and members of the Rockville Centre Fire Department Color Guard. American Legion Post 303 Director Joe Scarola led the ceremony.
Rockville Centre Mayor Francis X. Murray delivered a forceful reflection on the morning of December 7, 1941, when Japanese aircraft launched a devastating attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor.
“On Dec. 7, 1941, at approximately 10 minutes to 8, these animals — and they were — flew their planes over Pearl Harbor and killed almost 2,500 of our vets, our finest naval people,” Murray stated. “They sank the Arizona and many of our other ships.”
The attack, carried out by more than 350 Japanese aircraft in two waves, crippled the Pacific Fleet. In addition to the 2,403 Americans killed and 1,178 wounded, battleships such as the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma were destroyed or badly damaged, and nearly 200 American aircraft were lost on the ground.
The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his historic “date which will live in infamy” address, prompting Congress to declare war on Japan and bringing the United States fully into World War II.
“America came together as we always do and went after them and it took a little while but the Battle of the Coral Sea and then Midway with some great heroes — Dusty Kleiss was one of them — they sank four of their flattop aircraft carriers that day in Midway.
“We dropped two atom bombs on them,” he added. “Nobody ever wanted to do that, but we had to, and we won the war. We’ll never, ever forget that day. We will always remember those soldiers, those naval officers who died that day in an unprovoked attack.”
The ceremony’s emotional centerpiece came when Murray and American Legion member Walter Paruch Jr. walked to a wooden standing area above the river’s surface and tossed a flowery wreath into Mill River.
Paruch, 77, said the moment always brings back memories of growing up surrounded by his father’s generation of veterans. Walter Sr. served in the U.S. Army as a tanker during World War II
“It means a lot because I remember growing up, all my father’s friends were veterans,” he said. “And today, the veterans in Rockville Centre, you see them here So, to me, I just remember those early memories.”
It was that connection that made the annual tribute especially meaningful for him.
“It’s a tribute to those fallen soldiers who went behind me… or in front of me,” Paruch added. “That’s what it represents. It’s a tribute to them. All of them, many more of them.”
Following the wreath toss, Scarola led a moment of silence accompanied by the sound of bells and the playing of taps.
