Each year, fewer and fewer World War II veterans are around to observe historic days. Two weeks ago, four Hudson County veterans were slated to have an early-morning ceremony in Jersey City for the 62nd anniversary of the bombing of the military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941. But just days before that, a Union City veteran, one of the four, passed away.
It was in 1941 at 6 a.m. on Dec. 7 that six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes including torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers, and fighters. And shortly before 8 o’ clock in the morning, the Japanese attacked various U.S. military airfields. At the same time, they hit a fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor.
The Navy air bases at Ford Island and Kaneohe Bay, the Marine airfield at Ewa and the Army Air Corps fields at Bellows, Wheeler and Hickam were all bombed as other elements of the attacking force began their assaults on the ships moored in Pearl Harbor. More than 2,400 people were killed in the attack.
A week ago Friday morning, a group of people gathered on the Jersey City waterfront at Exchange Place to commemorate the day. Included in that group were Assemblywoman Joan Quigley and the three remaining survivors in Hudson County.
The fourth man, L. Harry Wolpert of Union City, had passed away just a few days before the anniversary of the attack. Wolpert’s son is the just-retired Union City Deputy Chief of Police Leonard Wolpert and his grandson is the just-promoted Sgt. Brian Wolpert, also of the Union City Police Department.
Last week’s ceremony almost didn’t happen, as a raging snowstorm was predicted for that day. But the assembled crowd who braved the cold waterfront winds thought it was important to attend, appearing at the pier at 7:30 a.m.
According to event coordinator Conrad Vuocolo, some politicians in years past have balked at showing up at an event so early in the morning. Said Vuocolo, "This one politician said, ‘But Connie, it’s hard to come out that early.’ So I said, ‘Well, that didn’t stop the Japs, did it?’ "
The fact that Assemblywoman Quigley made it to the ceremony made the three remaining survivors and their families very happy.
Quigley provided a memorial wreath that had been prepared by Judy Tran, a Vietnamese-American floral artist. The wreath was thrown in the Hudson River at precisely 7:55 a.m., the time that the Pearl Harbor attack began.
According to Vuocolo, the Hudson County ceremony is the only consecutive ceremony held in the United States, with the exception of the one held in Hawaii every year.
UC Pearl Harbor connection
L. Harry Wolpert, born in Union City on March 28, 1918, served in the United States Navy from 1940 to 1945. He was stationed at the Kanehoe Bay Navy Base on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. As a Union City, N.J. native, he was about as far from home as any fellow soldiers.
According to his granddaughter Lisa, Wolpert was just getting out of the shower when the first wave of attacks began. Said Lisa in a recent interview, "He told me that he was coming out of the shower and he walked outside and saw the planes. They were so low that he could see the Japanese pilots’ faces. He realized that they were Japanese and that something was very wrong."
Added Lisa, "He told me that all his friends thought he was drunk. They didn’t believe him. Then the alarms went off and the bombs started falling. His commanding officer ordered them to run for the woods."
Wolpert never had a chance to pick up a weapon. "He recognized that he was a Pearl Harbor survivor, but he was always very humble about it," said Lisa.
Wolpert’s death illuminates the fact that the numbers of living surviving Pearl Harbor veterans are dwindling, and fast. There are few people left to recollect that fateful day.
Another survivor of the attack, James Evans of Jersey City, remembers chaotic and horrific scene.
Said Evans in a telephone interview, "We had a hell of a time. They were coming in under the flames. We had to tie all the victims that were in the water to the docks. We couldn’t pull them out fast enough."
Added Evans, "Everybody was running around like crazy."