Twenty Pearl Harbor survivors gather in Hawaii to commemorate the 2,403 lives lost in Japanese attack 77 years ago

  • The youngest of the survivors were in their mid-90s as they gathered on Friday at the Naval base in Hawaii
  • Held moment of silence in tribute to the thousands of lives lost in attack on December 7, 1941
  • Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 jets flew overhead in 'missing man formation' to break the silence 
  • Pearl Harbor attack killed nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemen including 1,177 sailors lost on the USS Arizona
  • Only five survivors remain living from the Arizona, and none were able to attend this year's ceremony 

Advertisement

About 20 survivors have gathered at Pearl Harbor to pay tribute to the thousands of men lost in the Japanese attack 77 years ago.

The youngest of the veterans to gather for the ceremony on Friday in Hawaii are in their mid-90s. The Navy and National Park Service jointly hosted the remembrance ceremony at a grassy site overlooking the water and the USS Arizona Memorial.

Attendees observed a moment of silence at 7.55am, the time the attack began on December 7, 1941. 

Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 jets flew overhead in 'missing man formation' to break the silence.

The USS Michael Murphy passes by the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Friday during the ceremony
Slide me

The site of the sinking of the USS Arizona is seen left on December 7, 1941, and right on Friday as the USS Michael Murphy passes by the memorial during a ceremony to honor the thousands of lives lost at Pearl Harbor

Everett Hyland, seated, who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor as a crew member of the USS Pennsylvania, salutes along with his granddaughter, Navy Cmdr. Anna-Marie Fine on Friday as the USS Michael Murphy passes in Pearl Harbor

Everett Hyland, seated, who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor as a crew member of the USS Pennsylvania, salutes along with his granddaughter, Navy Cmdr. Anna-Marie Fine on Friday as the USS Michael Murphy passes in Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor survivors salute during the National Anthem at a ceremony in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Friday

Pearl Harbor survivors salute during the National Anthem at a ceremony in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Friday

Tom Berg, left, of Port Townsend, Wash., Robert Fernandez, center, of Stockton, Calif., and George Keene of Newhall, Calif., all survivors of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, take part in the 77th anniversary ceremony on Friday

Tom Berg, left, of Port Townsend, Wash., Robert Fernandez, center, of Stockton, Calif., and George Keene of Newhall, Calif., all survivors of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, take part in the 77th anniversary ceremony on Friday

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander Adm. Phil Davidson told those gathered the nation can never forget the heavy price paid with 21 vessels damaged or sunk, 170 planes destroyed and more than 2,400 killed including servicemen and civilians. 

He says these losses did not break the American spirit but charged it. 

For the first time, no survivor from the USS Arizona attended the ceremony as none of the five surviving men were able to make the trip to Hawaii. 

The Arizona sank after two bombs hit the ship, triggering tremendous explosions. 

The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, the greatest number of casualties from any ship. Most remain entombed in the sunken hull of the battleship at the bottom of the harbor.

Smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941

Smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941

The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941

The destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941

Altogether, the Pearl Harbor attack killed nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemen.

Survivor John Mathrursse attended the ceremony on Friday from Mountain View, California. He was an 18-year-old seaman second class walking out of the chow hall on Ford Island to see a friend on the USS West Virginia when the bombing began.

He says bombs and shells were going off in the water and men were getting hurt. He says he helped the ones who were too injured to swim. He carried them to the mess hall and set them on mattresses that people grabbed from the barracks above.

Also attending was Robert Fernandez, now 94-years old. He says he returns to Pearl Harbor for the anniversary because he's now all alone after his wife died four years ago.

Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw

Sailors stand among wrecked airplanes at Ford Island Naval Air Station as they watch the explosion of the USS Shaw

A patrol bomber burns at a military installation on Oahu's Kaneohe Bay during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

A patrol bomber burns at a military installation on Oahu's Kaneohe Bay during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

Thousands of miles away, in New York City, a memorial ceremony was also held aboard the decommissioned WWII aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, which is now a museum.

At 11am, Pearl Harbor survivors participated in a wreath-laying ceremony on the deck of the Intrepid. 

A bag piper played during the ceremony as a cold December wind blew off the Hudson river.

Survivor Armando 'Chick' Galella, 97, then gave remarks to the crowd.

'We had no weapons because they were locked up and my sergeant wouldn't open up the supply room, because he didn't get orders from his captain,' said Galella, CBS New York reported. 'I said, 'Are you off your mind? Don't you see what's happening here?'

'I wish people would understand that, I'm not a hero,' he said. 'I'm a survivor of the war, most veterans will tell you that. I'm a survivor, all your heroes have white crosses, they're your real heroes. Not me.'

Rev. James Blakely, another Pearl Harbor survivor who attended the ceremony on the Intrepid, said that younger generations must learn about and honor the sacrifices so many have made. “It was the saddest moment of my life,” he said of the attack in 1941.

A bagpipe player plays at a wreath ceremony Friday on the USS Intrepid in New York to mark the  the attack on Pearl Harbor

A bagpipe player plays at a wreath ceremony Friday on the USS Intrepid in New York to mark the the attack on Pearl Harbor

Local Pearl Harbor survivors Armando "Chick" Galella, 97, (left) and Reverend James Blakely, 99, throw a wreath off of the USS Intrepid at an event marking the 77th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Friday in New York City

Local Pearl Harbor survivors Armando 'Chick' Galella, 97, (left) and Reverend James Blakely, 99, throw a wreath off of the USS Intrepid at an event marking the 77th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Friday in New York City

Galella speaks at an event on the USS Intrepid in New York to mark the 77th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor

Galella speaks at an event on the USS Intrepid in New York to mark the 77th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor

Dozens of those killed have been recently identified and reburied in cemeteries across the country after the military launched a new effort to analyze bones and DNA of hundreds long classified as 'unknowns.'

This led to the 2015 exhumation of 388 sets of remains from the USS Oklahoma buried in a national cemetery in Honolulu. The Oklahoma had the second highest number of dead after the Arizona at 429, though only 35 were identified in the immediate years after the attack.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has identified 168 sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma since the exhumations three years ago. It has said it expects to identify about 80 percent of the 388 by 2020.

Several families were scheduled to rebury their newly identified loved ones on Friday, including Navy Seaman 1st Class William Bruesewitz of Appleton, Wisconsin.

He's expected to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.