Crowds Reflect on Pearl Harbor

With survivors turning out in smaller numbers each year, young faces filled the crowds at ceremonies Tuesday marking the 58th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

A dozen survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack stood, some with assistance, to be recognized at an invitation-only ceremony aboard the Arizona Memorial. Later Tuesday, the ashes of a veteran from the battleship Nevada were to be spread in the harbor.

The surprise attack by 350 Japanese war planes began at 7:55 a.m. and lasted about two hours. When it was over, 2,436 Americans were killed, and the United States was involved in World War II.

About 9,000 survivors of the attack are still living, but they are dying at a faster rate each year, said Don Howell, 79, state chairman of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn.

“We’re an almost extinct species--endangered now,” Howell said.

That’s why Ed Borucki, 79, of Southampton, Mass., brought his two grandsons to the ceremony on the gleaming white memorial above the battleship Arizona, which sank with 1,177 of its crew nine minutes into the attack.

Borucki was a Navy yeoman second class aboard the Helena, a light cruiser in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, during the attack.

He lost 33 shipmates that day.

Ethan Borucki, 9, and Aaron Borucki, 13, of Holyoke, Mass., said they’ve heard their grandfather’s stories about the attack many times and have learned more about World War II as a result. Aaron said being at Pearl Harbor for the first time made him appreciate his grandfather’s sacrifice more.