Pearl Harbor survivors Raymond F. James and Roger Thomas say they still have vivid memories of the horrific 1941 attack that nearly cost them their lives.
“It?s great to be alive,” said Thomas, 87, of Frederick, who served in the Navy during the attack.
The two men participated in a Maryland World War II Memorial on Thursday at the war?s monument in Annapolis, during which the Maryland Department of Transportation unveiled an 8-by-5 sign denoting the Severn River Bridge as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge.
During the ceremony, residents and officials honored seven World War II survivors who passed away during the last year.
The ceremony is important, the veterans said, because it reminds American citizens of the price so many young men paid so that they could live in freedom.
In all, more than 2,000 sailors and soldiers lost their lives that day, including eight men from James? U.S. Army squad and one from Thomas? squad.
The men recalled the horror and carnage of the Japanese ambush, which President Franklin Roosevelt called “a date which will live in infamy.”
James, 85, of Oxon Hill, remembers hearing the Japanese bombs striking nearby U.S. targets.
“They destroyed and killed,” he said.
“People forget,” Thomas said. “We just don?t learn. It took Sept. 11 for people to wake up again. We?re proud to be a part of the memorial. Those people who gave their lives, they?re the real heroes.”
