Some memories stay with people forever: where they were, what they did, and sometimes, how they managed to survive. Sometimes luck played a big role in helping some survive, said veterans of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. naval base that suffered the worst assault by a foreign power on the United States until Sept. 11, 2001.
“Then-President Franklin Roosevelt said the attack on Pearl Harbor is a day that will live in infamy,” said Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise. “We are keeping that memory alive by holding these ceremonies. Jersey City has the longest running ceremony outside of Pearl Harbor itself.”
Last week, officials and others gathered to pay tribute to the last two known living Hudson County residents who survived Pearl Harbor and to continue the tradition started in Jersey City just after the attack, marking its 73rd anniversary.
Frank Wasnieski, 96, of Jersey City, and Robert Eakin, 93, of Bayonne, were on hand to mark the date.
Wasnieski, who served in the United States Army, saw bombs hitting the USS Arizona.
“We are keeping that memory alive by holding these ceremonies.” – Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise
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The early morning attack on Dec. 7, 1941 officially plunged the United States into the conflict that became known as World War II. That was the day Japanese planes bombed the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii, drawing a reluctant nation into the conflagration that had already been raging across Europe for over two years.
That day, 2,280 American military personnel and 68 civilians were killed when 350 Japanese warplanes flew over the Island of Oahu and attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet with bombs and aerial torpedoes. An additional 1,109 Americans were wounded, 19 naval ships were sunk or damaged and more than 250 planes were destroyed or disabled. The day after the attack, the United States declared war on Japan and entered World War II.
Ten of the victims from New Jersey were aboard the battleship USS Arizona, which was bombed and sank killing 1,177 officers and crewmen.
The memories, and men, live on
DeGise prefaced the wreath dedication by noting the importance of the date and location. He noted that the ceremony was being held on a Sunday, and noted similarities to the more recent attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
DeGise said the honor guard was made up of ROTC students from Dickenson and Ferris High schools, as well as members of the Korean War veterans from Bayonne. Sea Cadets from Jersey City were also involved in the ceremonies.
Judge Don DeLeo said he was inspired by the two survivors, noting Wasnieski still lives in Jersey City, still drives, and still has vivid memories of the attack. He reflected on how luck played a role in helping Wasnieski survive.
“When the Japanese planes came over and shot into the barracks, he and the others were in the mess hall,” DeLeo said. “Had they come back sooner, they would not have been alive.”
DeLeo said these events are about keeping the memory alive and keeping “Old Glory” flying.
“This is about the future,” he said. “It is about duty, honor and country.”
Past and present
At past ceremonies, local residents had talked about their memories of the day.
Lee Goldfarb, Jersey City, a radioman on the U.S.S. Oglala, talked about how he heard the aircraft first, and then when he looked out the porthole he saw Japanese planes attacking ships anchored at nearby Ford Island. Another account from Earl Bangert, then a private assigned to Schofield Barracks, said he later saw worse battles in the war, but this was the first and the one he would remember most.
Louis Markisello was a resident of North Bergen when was drafted into the U.S. Army prior to the attack. Before his death in Secaucus a few years ago, he spoke about remembering the sound of the airplanes while he was on his way to the mess hall for breakfast.
For others, Pearl Harbor became a call of arms. Stephen R. Gregg was working in the shipyards in Kearny when Pearl Harbor was bombed. His job made him exempt from the draft, but the bombing made him enlist.
“I just wanted to go over,” he said in an interview in 1998.
Gregg, one of Hudson County’s most highly decorated veterans and a World War II Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, would dodge gunfire and grenades in order to give cover to medics seeking to recover seven wounded soldiers in France.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.