The warning stands

Never forget.

Word War II veterans who were in Pearl Harbor the day the Japanese

attacked have spent decades relaying this message.

It is a warning, a cry for vigilance.

It was a sleepy Sunday morning in Pearl Harbor, on the Island of

Oahu, Hawaii. There had been no formal declaration of war.

And while thousands of service men and women slept, ate breakfast,

read the Sunday paper and relaxed, the Japanese Imperial Navy

attacked.

There were 2,395 men and women killed that morning, 1,178 wounded

and 1,102 remain entombed in the USS Arizona.

For many, there is no way to forget -- parents or grandparents

lived through the war and relate stories. But for younger generations

it is a time far removed. It is history just like the Civil War is.

And so veterans have gone to schools, spoken to classes, told

their stories and relayed their message of vigilance.

For many it is a message that resonates more since Sept. 11, 2001,

when America again came under attack. For others it makes Dec. 7,

1941 seem even further in the past.

Neither should be forgotten, and one does not supercede the other.

With each year that passes the number of Pearl Harbor survivors

dwindles.

Andrew Weniger, who was working on Hickam Army Airfield at Pearl

Harbor when the Japanese launched the attack, is among a shrinking

number of Pearl Harbor survivors.

Weniger, the president of the Orange County Chapter of the Pearl

Harbor Survivors Assn. estimates that between 5,000 and 4,000 Pearl

Harbor survivors are left, down from 18,000 a decade ago. This year,

about 1,000 Pearl Harbor survivors are believed to have died.

Their message must live on. Their stories must be told and

listened to.

On this, the 63rd anniversary of the attacks, Weniger and others

reached out to students.

“We don’t want them to ever forget what others have sacrificed for

this great country,” he said.

But their message is not just a history lesson. It is a cry to be

ever vigilant. As we fight a new enemy, their message of vigilance

should be heeded.