Rainbow graces 59th memorial of Pearl Harbor attack

The surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base and other military installations on Oahu lasted for two hours on Dec. 7, 1941. The Japanese sank or heavily damaged 21 ships, destroyed or damaged 323 aircraft, killed 2,388 people and wounded 1,178.

About 240 survivors, veterans, dignitaries, military officials and invited guests attended the services on the memorial that spans amidships the battleship sunk in the attack, now a tomb for about 1,000 of its crewmen.

Woodrow Wilson Derby, 82, a retired math teacher from San Diego, was stationed on the USS Nevada, a 23-year-old petty officer, said his ship was lucky. "We lost 59 men on the Nevada."

"It's very emotional, it truly is," he said, pay homage to his lost shipmates. "The bad memories have gone out of my mind. I'm just glad to be alive."

Douglas Phillips, who lives near Annapolis, recalls that that day 59 years ago was "a beautiful day like this. He was a crewman aboard the USS Ramsay, tied up at West Loch when the bombs and torpedoes fell. He saw the USS Utah roll over.

"We realized at that time, it wasn't a drill. We just stood in awe," he said.

Adm. Dennis Blair, who commands the Pacific fleet, said the major lessons of Pearl Harbor are maintaining military vigilance and not miscalculating adversaries.

"I believe these survivors would agree with me, that the only way to repay fallen comrades is to ensure that their deaths were not in vain, that they will live on forever in spirit by ... keeping our country strong, prepared and ever vigilant," the admiral said.

The memorial service aboard the USS Arizona Memorial included prayers, wreath presentations, a "missing man" formation flyover by Hawaii Air National Guard F-15 jets, a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps.

On Wednesday, three Japanese pilots who flew in the attack and a dozen American survivors of the raid shook hands and embraced during a reconciliation ceremony. The fliers were among about 250 World War II Japanese veterans who participated in the ceremony arranged by the American-Japan Friendship Committee.

"They were doing their job the same as we were doing ours, and you can hardly blame them for what happened," Pearl Harbor survivor Pat Duncan said.

"We certainly have no personal grudge or rancor to these people," former pilot Haruo Yosino told reporters through an interpreter. "Your people and our people fought for

our countries, not because we hated the

individuals."<