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thedrifter
12-08-06, 06:53 AM
Vets, residents reflect on day of infamy

By Amy Reinink

Sun staff writer

University of Florida Army ROTC students in dress uniforms flipped rifles in the air.

Veterans of the U.S. Marines marched slowly toward the World War II portion of the Veterans Memorial at Kanapaha Park, carrying a large American flag.

At 1 p.m. Thursday, almost exactly 65 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the small group of Alachua County veterans and other residents who had gathered to remember the attack turned toward the flag to salute it.

Roughly 75 people, mostly veterans wearing windbreakers and hats emblazoned with VFW insignia, clustered in the parking lot of the Veterans Memorial Thursday afternoon for the second-annual Alachua County Pearl Harbor memorial ceremony.

This year, many Pearl Harbor survivors groups have pushed for more recognition of the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. They say that with World War II veterans dying at a rate of 1,000 a day, it's more important now than ever to commemorate the event.

U.S. Navy Capt. Bill McKown Jr., the commander of UF's Navy ROTC unit, emphasized that point during his speech, saying he hoped his students learned from their interactions with World War II veterans.

"This event is relived every day in the minds of those survivors who were there," McKown said. "And before you, you see a whole new generation, just as talented and just as determined as the generations before."

The ceremony on Thursday lasted less than an hour, consisting of McKown's speech, a drill team exhibition by UF's Army ROTC unit and the posting of the colors by the Marine Corps League Color Guard.

Dick Davis, a Korean War veteran who helped organize the annual ceremony, said the blustery weather on Thursday afternoon kept attendance down. Davis said roughly 50 people attended last year's first-annual Pearl Harbor remembrance.

"I think that's what kept some groups, like the ones we invited from the nursing homes, away," Davis said.

But Jim Lynch, director of the Alachua County Office of Veterans Services, told the crowd that the number of people in attendance didn't matter.

"The last time we got together to honor Pearl Harbor was the first time we did so in a long time," Lynch said. "Attendance today may not be large, but it's the fact that our community is doing something to remember that's important."

Amy Reinink can be reached at 352-374-5088 or reinina@gvillesun.com

Ellie