Patriots Point honors lives lost during attack on Pearl Harbor

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Hundreds of veterans and community members will fill the USS Yorktown today to remember the 25 known South Carolinians killed during Pearl Harbor.

Chris Hauff with Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum says it’s important to honor those who lost their lives during the 1941 attack, while also inspiring the community to be heroes of their own.

In partnership with Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Pearl Harbor Memorial Day service will include a wreath-laying, tolling of a bell, and a traditional gun salute.

The wreaths will be cast into the Charleston harbor as symbolism for moving on but not being forgotten.

Hauff says there were dozens if not hundreds of survivors from South Carolina and they make it a point to honor them as well.

“As it gets later in the 2020s, they are passing at an alarming rate, and we won’t have very many with us for much longer. So, if we are lucky enough tomorrow to have survivors from the pearl harbor attacks, we do everything we can to honor them,” Hauff says.

After ceremonies like this, Hauff says, people are inspired and want to do something to help. So, they will host their life and legacy blood drive in partnership with The Blood Connection after the event so attendees can be heroes too.

The blood will then be donated to Charleston-area hospitals in need.

Admission to the USS Yorktown will be waived between 10 and 11 a.m. if you’re planning on attending the ceremony. The event will start promptly at 11 a.m.

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