By Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau: Gov. Brian Sandoval honored three Pearl Harbor survivors today on the 70th anniversary of the attack that brought the United States into World War II.
At a ceremony in the Capitol, Sandoval spoke of the Japanese surprise attack 70 years ago and the Americans who rose to the challenge to engage the enemy in a battle that killed more than 2,400 Americans.
He also mentioned the USS Nevada, the only battleship to get under way during the attack.
“We know of the sacrifices made by the greatest American generation, to win the war that began with the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,” Sandoval said. “Today, we gather to mark the 70th anniversary of this date. Not to commemorate its infamy, but rather to remember all that it inspired in a shocked and angry nation.
“Most of all we remember those who died at Pearl Harbor, and those who lived to serve and fight, and some to die, on another day,” he said.
One of those present on that “date in infamy” was Roland Peachee, 95, of Carson City, who said he was on the dock next to his dry docked ship, the USS Rigel, when the attack began, taking cover under a canvass overhang that was part of a portable butcher shop where he was working. The repair ship was named for the star.
“Then I realized that, hell, it was nothing but painted canvass,” he said. “So from then on I got the hell out of there, underneath some superstructure laying on the dock there. Our ship was disabled, it didn’t have any guns or anything on it.”
A Japanese plane dropped one bomb that fortunately fell between the Rigel and another ship that was loaded with high test fuel and PT boats. Even so the crews were hit with shrapnel, Peachee said.
“We lost about four or five men,” he said.
Also honored at the ceremony were Pearl Harbor survivors Paul Dierlam of Carson City and Robert Lloyd of Dayton.
Peachee worked with members of the Nevada Legislature to get the Pearl Harbor special license plates approved for those who were at the battle.
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs, in a fact sheet on America’s Wars updated this year, reports that more than 16 million individuals served as members of the U.S. armed forces during World War II. There were 291,557 battle deaths, 113,842 other deaths in service and 670,846 non-mortally wounded military personnel. The agency estimates that nearly 2.1 million American veterans are still living.
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Audio clips:
Gov. Brian Sandoval says the ceremony is about remembering what the attack inspired:
120711Sandoval1 :32 and angry nation.”
Sandoval says it is also about remembering those who died and those who lived to continue to serve:
120711Sandoval2 :16 on another day.”
Pearl Harbor survivor Roland Peachee says he found himself in a bad spot when the attack began:
120711Peachee1 :19 on it, so.”
Peachee says a bomb just missed his ship and another loaded with fuel:
120711Peachee2 :24 or five men.”
