ShipfitterWarren Coliquy was waiting for transportation aboard a vessel similar to the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Taney when the attack on Pearl Harbor began 66 years ago today.
“That was a whole mess,” said Coliquy, 80, summing up the ambush. “I fought. If I didn?t fight I wouldn?t be here today.”
Coliquy, who now lives in Laurel, plans to join three other Pearl Harbor survivors at the ceremony commemorating the attack today aboard the Taney in Baltimore?s Inner Harbor.
“This is the last fighting ship that is afloat today that was in action when the Japanese attacked the Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor,” said Paul Cora, curator of the Baltimore Maritime Museum. “In years gone by we?ve had much greater turnout by survivors. … Those that are still with us are less and less likely each year to make the trip out on the 7th.”
Nationwide, about 4,800 survivors remain to tell their stories, said Julius Finnern, a former Navy fireman and past secretary of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. Last year at this time there were more than 5,000, but Finnern said he fully expects survivors to be around at the 75th commemoration in 2016.
“At the 75th anniversary of the end of World War I, 64 veterans attended the ceremony,” said Finnern, of Menomonee Falls, Wis. “There are three World War One veterans still living. We?ll be around for a while.”
With hope, however, one member of the survivors association will remain to tell their tales long after, Cora said. “The Taney has the distinction of being an honorary member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.”
Today?s ceremony is free and open to the public. Survivors will share their stories, followed by a 21-gun salute, “Taps”, a “solemn bell-tolling” and a wreath drop by a Baltimore Police Department helicopter.
USCGC TANEY Fast Facts
» Constructed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1936
» One of seven Treasury/Secretary Class cutters
» Attached to Destroyer Division 80 in the summer of 1941 and was in action against Japanese planes during the Pearl Harbor Attack.
» Taney is in need of theperiodic hull maintenance that, while in service, she received every 2-3 years, as well as replacement of some wooden decks.
Source: Baltimore Maritime Museum
