Mighty 8th Air Force Museum honors Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

POOLER, Ga. (WTOC) - It’s Pearl Harbor Remembrance Sunday in the U.S.

A day that will live in infamy....December 7th, 1941, is when Japanese forces launched a two-hour air raid on the US Naval Base in Hawaii that killed 2,400 service members and civilians.

It not only shook America’s confidence but pulled an entire generation into World War 2.

“Pearl Harbor is a big day. It’s going to be in history for a long, long time,” said Chatham County’s Veteran of the Year, Samuel Currie.

Retired Captain of the U.S. Navy, Leonard Jones, said they do this every year to honor the heroism in American history.

Representatives with the Mighty 8th reiterated that message.

“I think it’s important to remember Pearl Harbor and other events in our history for the sacrifices that these men and women gave, but also the way Americans came together after the Pearl Harbor attacks. It was just so unifying,” said Dawn Brosnan, the Director of Communications at the Museum of Mighty Eighth.

Currie, Chatham County’s Veteran of the Year, tries to come every year to the ceremony.

“I think the further you get away from a date of something, it’s harder to remember it as well and keep it in the public’s eye,” said Brosnan.

“We don’t remember history, and that’s one of the problems that we have right now, is that history is written and people put their own spin to history. We need to continue what we’re doing here at the Mighty Eighth Museum.”

Chatham County’s Veteran of the Year, Samuel L. Currie.

Currie told WTOC he’s been to Pearl Harbor before and remembers the emotions from that trip.

“I’ve been to Pearl Harbor, I’ve been on the Arizona, and I’ve seen it myself, and it’s a very poignant figure to history that we have in the Navy and World War 2. If you ever go to the memorial, you will understand what Pearl Harbor means to individuals. It’s a very somber experience to see the ships directly underneath the water, and you see the oil bubbling up, and you know that right there, there are navy sailors with that ship still underwater,” said Currie.