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At Pearl Harbor Ceremony, No Survivors Attend as Memory Passes to Families and Archives

Traditional rituals continued at the 84th anniversary, with institutions and descendants now carrying the work of preserving firsthand accounts.

FILE - Pearl Harbor survivor Archie Odom, of Federal Way, Wash., salutes during a moment of silence in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1991, in remembrance of those killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Odom was a signalman on the bridge of the USS West Virginia when the Japanese attacked. (AP Photo/John Gaps III, File)
FILE - From left to right, Pearl Harbor survivors Harry Chandler, Ken Stevens, Herb Elfring and Ira "Ike" Schab sit during the 82nd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony Dec. 7, 2023, at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin, File)
FILE - American ships burn during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - A photo of Pearl Harbor survivor Lou Conter, 101, as a young sailor is displayed at his home in Grass Valley, Calif., Nov. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

Overview

  • The Hawaii remembrance began at 7:55 a.m. with a moment of silence to mark the exact time of the 1941 attack.
  • Roughly a dozen Pearl Harbor survivors remain alive, all centenarians, and none were able to travel to this year’s waterfront ceremony.
  • Core elements such as the missing-man flight and wreath-laying proceeded, with duties increasingly handled by active-duty service members.
  • The National Park Service has recorded nearly 800 oral histories, and the Library of Congress holds collections from 535 survivors, much of it online.
  • Museums and families marked the day locally, including a ceremony at New York’s Intrepid Museum where relatives laid wreaths and offered remarks.