![\"During](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-pearl-harbor-003.jpg\")
During the 84th Annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Ceremony on board the USS Midway, Dennis Fipps (l), Ben Valeu (m), and David Ybarra (r) stood during the presenting of the colors and playing of the national anthem. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough nearly 85 years have passed, we still feel that it is critically important to take a few moments each year to pay tribute to all of those who fought for freedom that day, especially those who paid the ultimate sacrifice,\u201d said David Koons, the director of marketing at the USS Midway Museum.<\/p>\n
For Patrick and Bob Schenkelberg, whose father, Clayton, was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attack, preserving the memory of the historical event is important.<\/p>\n
Their father passed away three years ago, at the age of 103, and talking about him and his life is emotional for his two sons.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are forgetting,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cI still come every year to honor Dad and to honor everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Described as \u201ca date which will live in infamy\u201d by then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, more than 2,400 military personnel and civilians died in the attack, with more than 1,000 wounded. Dozens of U.S. Navy ships were sunk or damaged<\/a> and nearly 200 aircraft were destroyed.<\/p>\n The following day, Congress declared war on Japan and entered the global conflict.<\/p>\n \u201cThis may be the most important moment in U.S. history in the 20th century,\u201d said Seth Mallios, professor of anthropology and history at San Diego State University, who delivered a speech at Saturday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n The U.S. became a global superpower after World War II and was critical to the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.<\/p>\n Saturday morning\u2019s event included a wreath-laying, a two-bell ceremony and a ceremonial missing man flyover, along with music from the Pomerado Community Band.<\/p>\n Patrick Schenkelberg said that his father didn\u2019t speak much about the attack until the release of the 2001 film \u201cPearl Harbor\u201d and he started to open up more. His father, who grew up on an Iowa farm, told stories of the Japanese airplanes that flew so low above the base that he \u201ccould have thrown a potato\u201d and hit them.<\/p>\n![\"During](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-pearl-harbor-002.jpg\")
During the 84th Annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Ceremony, vintage military aircraft maneuvered into the missing man formation over the USS Midway Museum on Saturday. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
![\"During](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-pearl-harbor-004.jpg\")
During the 84th Annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Ceremony, David Harper, a volunteer on board the USS Midway Museum, shared an autographed photo of Admiral Chester Nimitz with his father, who was working as a civil service carpenter.\u00a0 Harper was only 3 years old when he and his parents lived in Hawaii during the attack on Pearl Harbor.\u00a0 (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n