[StBernard] 68th Anniversary of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor marked in a ceremony

[Westley Annis]

68th Anniversary of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor marked in a ceremony 

Music, speeches honor survivors and their families at Chalmette park

 

Under gray and rainy skies, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association held a
Memorial Service on Monday, Dec. 7 to commemorate the 68th Anniversary of
the Bombing of Pearl Harbor at Pearl Harbor Park 5601 Paris Road in
Chalmette.

 

Veterans and their families and friends gathered to mark the anniversary at
Pearl Harbor Park in Chalmette - the only park in honor of Pearl Harbor on
the main land of the United States.

 

Debra Jones Posey of the Sons and Daughters of the Pearl Harbor Survivors in
reciting a litany of Pearl Harbor's casualty statistics paused for emphasis
as she told the gathering that a total of 2,403 people on the US side lost
their lives that fateful day.

 

Parish President Craig Taffaro said it was critical that this generation
commit to pass on the spirit of the Pearl Harbor survivors so that future
generations will know the event's greatness and significance.

 

The park - the work of deceased local veteran Joseph Moity - was designed by
former St. Bernard Parish Department of Community Development Director
Michael Hunnicutt. At the ceremony, Hunnicutt credited Moity's determination
in making the park a reality. After the program, Hunnicutt said the Moity,
who died in 2003, once told him that the serviceman who replaced him on the
USS Arizona shortly before the bombing reportedly went down with the ship.
That apparently is what motivated him in his quest to have a park to honor
that significant event in US history.

 

The speakers recognized the veterans in the audience, including several who
were in the military at Pearl Harbor. Robert Templet, 89, served in the Navy
and was a radioman on Ford Island within Oahu for Pearl Harbor. Nolan
Albarado, 92, served in the Army at Scofield Barracks. James Cook, 86,
served in the Navy and was on the USS Rigel at a Pearl Harbor shipyard being
overhauled.

John DiBetta 87 served in the Navy on the USS Detroit.

 

The group thanked Glen's Crane Service of Chalmette because Melvin Bartolo
gracious fixed the cable on the flag pole so the flag could be prominently
flown for the anniversary.

 

For more information, contact Shirley Rambeau, Secretary of the Pearl Harbor
Survivors Association and Louisiana State Chairperson of the Sons and
Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors at srambeau at hotmail.com
<mailto:srambeau at hotmail.com>  or 504-338-2500.

 

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Photo by Karen Turni Bazile: St. Bernard Parish officials pose with veterans
in front of the Pearl Harbor Park Monument. From left: St. Bernard Parish
President Craig P. Taffaro, Jr., Robert Templet, 89, Nolan Albarado, 92,
James Cook, 86, 

John DiBetta 87, St. Bernard Parish Councilman Mike Ginart, state Rep. Nita
Hutter.