World War II vet from LI honored on Pearl Harbor anniversary

The images of a nation at war remain permanently seared into Louis Singer's memory.

On D-Day, Singer stood at his battle station on the USS Quincy for two days, watching bodies float by in water red with blood. A Naval destroyer just behind him was cut in half.

On the 79th anniversary of the surprise attack by the Japanese Naval Air Service at Pearl Harbor, images like those come roaring back for the 95-year-old veteran from Woodbury. He joined the Navy two years after the military strike that rained down on Honolulu at 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time.

"We should never forget, never, never," said Singer during the American Airpower Museum's annual Pearl Harbor ceremony Monday in Farmingdale.

The overwhelming majority of Pearl Harbor survivors are now gone but the traditions from one of America's darkest days continue, even during a pandemic.

During a scaled-down event to comply with COVID-19 restrictions, lawmakers, retired service members and veterans advocates honored the sacrifices of the more than 2,400 Americans, including at least 12 Long Islanders, killed in the attack.

"As World War II recesses further and further in our minds, it's important to keep alive the memories and keep the flame burning and to never forget the sacrifices of our veterans," said Col. Bill Stratemeier, a Vietnam War cargo pilot and treasurer of the Long Island Air Force Association.

On Monday afternoon, a vintage military aircraft piloted by the Geico Skytypers departed from Republic Airport where it dropped 79 red roses — one for every year since the attack — over the Statue of Liberty. The floral cargo was dropped precisely at 12:55 p.m. New York time, the time the attack at Pearl Harbor began.

The "dropping of the roses" ceremony began in 1970 by Pearl Harbor survivor Joseph Hydrusko, a Massapequa restaurant owner who was killed in 1983 when, while preparing for the roses drop, his plane burst into flames on the ground. The Skytypers began dropping the roses the following year.

Larry Starr, operations manager of the American Airpower Museum, said Dec. 7 was a "turning point in history" for the United States, transforming it from an isolationist country into a world power.

Pearl Harbor, he said, also transformed Long Island, attracting major defense contractors including Northrop Grumman that helped create the region's post-WWII suburbs.

"Pearl Harbor, in a way, is responsible for the middle class here on Long Island," Starr said.

Tom Ronayne, director of the Suffolk County Veterans Services, said the significance of the museum, and of Pearl Harbor, for Long Island cannot be understated. Suffolk County now has the highest percentage of veterans of any of New York's 62 counties, followed by Nassau.

"That hardworking, committed to our community, love our neighbors community culture that we have on Long Island is inextricably tied to this building," Ronayne said.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said the nation rallied together in the days and weeks after the attack at Pearl Harbor, unifying for a single cause.

"We should all remember how strong and resilient we actually are," Curran said. "Let's call upon that strength and call upon that resilience for the things that we are facing today. We can do it because we have done it."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.