Pearl Harbor 80th anniversary: 'FDR' shows up in police-escorted '30s-era Ford Roadster
BOYNTON BEACH — The COVID-19 pandemic dampened the mood and turnout at last year's remembrance of the Pearl Harbor attack at Veterans Memorial Park in Boynton Beach.
Crowding together a group of 90-year-old-plus vets was nobody's idea of a good plan.
Things were different at the park on Tuesday during a one-hour tribute to Pearl Harbor on the 80th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941 strike.
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More than 25 World War II veterans showed up for the event, part of a crowd of around 100 people.
Even President Franklin D. Roosevelt showed up.
Roosevelt, in the form of Boynton Beach resident Delmas P. Wood Jr., arrived in a police-escorted '30s-era Ford Roadster and decked out in a gray suit and fedora. He recited his, "A day which will live in infamy," speech, which was delivered to Congress on Dec. 8, 1941.
"We have a hell of a lot bigger crowd this year," said Tom Kaiser, a tireless veterans advocate who had the park named after him in 2019. "Last year was very, very difficult. Today, everybody is sitting together like a family, which is what we want. We're almost like normal Americans again."
The surprise attack eight decades ago resulted in the deaths of 2,400 service members and civilians, left about 1,000 people wounded and damaged or destroyed almost 20 ships and more than 300 aircraft in less than two hours.
The next day, Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan and the request was approved.
Germany and Italy followed by declaring war on the U.S., which then entered World War II around two years after it began.
The Japanese used 353 aircraft, 35 submarines, two battleships and 11 destroyers in the strike, which began at 7:55 a.m.
Around 40 survivors of the Japanese attack attended a remembrance service on Tuesday at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii.
"After 80 years, we're still listening to you so we never forget," Boynton Beach Vice-Mayor Woodrow Hay said. "We will tell the next generation and the next generation and the generation after that in order to always remember Pearl Harbor."
Among the day's speakers were Irwin Lebow, who was in his second year at New York University and four days into his marriage of 70 years, when he was called into service.
Lebow was based in Corsica with the Army Air Corps and flew 93 missions as the pilot of P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft.
Lebow reminded others that of about16 million Americans who served during World War II, only 250,000 or so are still alive.
During Tuesday's ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park, a marker was unveiled to honor those who served at Pearl Harbor.
jmilian@pbpost.com
@caneswatch
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Pearl Harbor Day 80th anniversary: World War II vets in Boynton Beach
