WWII veterans still vividly remember attack

Sixty-nine years ago on Wednesday, one day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the front page of this newspaper carried a huge headline about the attack on Pearl Harbor:

1,500 DEAD, 1,500 HURT. U.S. Warships Sunk; Sea Fight On.

"Before that, there were movies about the Germans and stuff in Europe, but this suddenly made it real," said Mervin Decker, 90, who fought in the Army's Eighth Division and now lives in the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Then Dec. 7, 1941, arrived and, "For Chrissake, we were being killed!" he said.

Dozens of Long Island men were stationed in Hawaii at the time, and thousands more enlisted even as Long Island's economy transformed from farming to weapons production to meet wartime needs.

Today there are around 20,000 veterans of the Greatest Generation on Long Island. Until about three years ago, most of the VA center's clients were World War II veterans, according to Joe Sledge, spokesman for the medical center, which assists 35,000 veterans a year. That has since shifted to Vietnam and Korean War veterans.

Nationwide, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are 2 million World War II veterans, a number that drops by around 900 every day.

They are in their 80s and 90s now, and for some the moment they heard news of the attack remains crystal-clear. Decker was at home listening to the radio with his family and remembers uttering an expletive. Patrick Fusco, 87, also of the Northport hospital, was in boot camp in Massachusetts and remembers a sergeant matter-of-factly telling him it would take three years to beat the Japanese. Emil McCormick, 89, who flew in the Army Air Forces during the war and also lives in the Veterans Hospital, was visiting his nephews in Florida. "I was in disbelief," he said. "I thought, 'We're in it now.' "

U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), who edited "Charge! History's Greatest Military Speeches", said the attack - and the response - have special relevance since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"There's a moral imperative that we remember those who went forth for us," he said. "And there's a learning imperative that we know who gave us what we have today - not to learn about the past, but to learn about what to do in the future. That's what World War II veterans teach us every day."

PEARL HARBOR COMMEMORATIONS

Farmingdale. American Beauty roses will be loaded onto four World War II aircraft at the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport. The planes will fly to the Statue of Liberty, where the roses will be dropped. A ceremony at the museum will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon outside the museum, 1230 New Highway.

Oyster Bay. Commemoration with color guard at Theodore Roosevelt Beach and Marina, 977 Hicksville Rd. The ceremony starts at 10:30 a.m.