Dec 7, 2016 3 min read

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Editor’s note: This article originally published Monday, December 8, 1997.

People will soon be forgetting about the attack on Pearl Harbor that led to American involvement in World War II, local veterans say.

“The guys that did fight the war are dying off every day,” said Jesse E. Tinkey of Claysville, a 78-year-old survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack that killed more than 3,000 U.S. troops.

Tinkey was among four Pearl Harbor survivors who attended a small but somber service Sunday in Washington that marked the 56th anniversary of the attack. It was the first such service to be held in Edwin Scott Linton American Legion Post 175, post Commander John King said.

King said post members had been asking for a service honoring Pearl Harbor survivors. In past years, the veterans had to travel to Pittsburgh for Pearl Harbor services, he said.

Three of the four survivors there took the podium to tell the crowd of about 50 who attended the service about their experiences on that fateful day.

“It was just like taking candy from a baby,” said Ted Wozniak, 78, of Scott Township, who watched Japanese torpedo planes sink U.S. Navy vessels. He said some U.S. troops were helpless because ammunition had been locked up.

“I can remember the vibration from the explosion of all the ships, the rumble,” said Floyd Laughlin, 80, who was stationed at Pearl Harbor with the U.S. Army’s 97th Coast Artillery.

“I didn’t have time to get scared until later in the night,” said Laughlin of McDonald.

Retired U.S. Navy Adm. Chauncy Hoffman of Washington, who was guest speaker for the service, said World War II will be nothing more than a “dim recess” in peoples’ minds in 50 years.

He said there was nothing in his local newspaper Sunday about the anniversary of the attack, and that it was “symptomatic of what is happening across America.

“I was distressed by that, Hoffman said. “Unfortunately, people are forgetting. There is not enough loyalty to the history of America.”

But John Ferrer of Washington, another Pearl Harbor survivor who attended, said it made him feel good that the local American Legion held the service.

“I lost a lot of good friends and good shipmates,” said the 80-year-old Ferrer.

“That day, you never forget,” he said.

And King said “we need to hear in their words what happened that day” because many people alive today were not born when the attack occurred.

“That’s why we need to reflect,” King said.

Jesse E. Tinkey died Tuesday, January 8, 2002. John Ferrer died Wednesday, June 29, 2005. Ted Wozniak died Saturday, December 5, 2009. Floyd Laughlin died Saturday, January 26, 2013.