Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony in Des Plaines

Capt. James D. Hawkins, commanding officer of Naval Station Great Lakes, will speak before a crowd of Pearl Harbor survivors, World War II veterans, their descendants and officials on Wednesday, Dec. 7, in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The commemoration will be held at the Prairie Lakes Theater, 515 E. Thacker St.

Joe Triolo of the USS Tangier, one of the last survivors of Pearl Harbor in Northern Illinois, is expected to attend.

The Japanese raid was one of the great defining moments in history. A single, carefully planned and well-executed stroke removed the U.S. Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion.

According to the Naval History & Heritage Command, the Japanese Navy secretly sent an aircraft carrier force across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the world's oceans.

Its planes hit just before 8 a.m., sinking five of eight battleships, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and more than 2,400 Americans were killed.

The attack shocked and enraged the previously divided American people, and the United States, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.

This will be the 5th commemoration of that day organized by brothers Eric "Rick" and Bob Miller of the Sons & Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors (SDPHS), the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association Illinois Chapter 1 (PHSA) and Mike Lake, Commander of VFW Post 2992.

The Millers' late father, "C.J.," was aboard the USS Ramsay when the attack occurred. Bob and Rick Miller have spent the last 16 years honoring their father, the local survivors, the survivors that have died and all those who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941.

The event, which begins at 2 p.m., is open to the public. A color guard from VFW POST 2992 will present the colors, the Brass Ambassadors Navy Band will perform and a firing battery from VFW Post 2992 will fire a three-volley salute. Bob Miller will be the Master of Ceremonies. A two-bell ceremony will honor the dead.

A Pearl Harbor display area will be open after the ceremony. Graphics and museum quality models telling the story of the attack will be on display from 2:45 to 4 p.m. This display has been put together over the last 25 years and is the private collection of the Miller family.