Veterans and community members are invited to the USS Kidd Veterans Museum’s Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony on Saturday.
The observance will be held aboard the USS Kidd at 11:55 a.m. This event is free and open to the public. The program is hosted by USS Kidd staff and volunteers. The color guard will be provided by Zachary High School Junior ROTC. Members of local veterans organizations are expected to attend.
On Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, just before 8 a.m. Hawaii Time, Imperial Japanese airplanes and submarines attacked the United States Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor and the 14th Pursuit Wing at Wheeler Army Airfield. More than 2,400 American military personnel were killed in the attack. Among those lost were Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, Sr., after whom the USS Kidd is named, and 46 native sons of Louisiana. The next day, America entered World War II.
“The Pearl Harbor attack is never far from memory,” said Tim NesSmith, USS Kidd ship superintendent. “Every sailor that arrives at Pearl Harbor stands on the rail and renders honors to the USS Arizona and her crew as their ship passes the site of her wreckage. It is a lesson and a warning to every generation to always remain vigilant.”
Immediately following the Pearl Harbor Day ceremony, there will be a memorial ceremony ashore for a more recent tragic event. The Coast Guard buoy tender White Alder was lost in a collision on the Mississippi River near White Castle on Dec. 7, 1968. Members of the USCG Marine Safety Unit Baton Rouge will honor the 17 crewmen that went down with their ship. Like the crew of the Arizona, the White Alder’s crew is entombed aboard their ship on the river’s bottom.
The USS Kidd Veterans Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is charged.
For more information, call 225-342-1942 or visit the website at www.usskidd.com.