“You have to know what it took to get to where we are today,” he remembers of Pearl Harbor

WHITLEY COUNY, Ky. (WYMT) – December 7, 1941 is a day that would inspire a unified sense of patriotism across America.

Saturday marks the 83rd anniversary of the Japanese Navy’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack killed 2,403 Americans.

“To remain true to our country, we must remember our response,” said Sons of the American Revolution President Cpt. “Charles Gatliff chapter,” said Charles Hayes. “Before Pearl Harbor, half the country didn’t want to get involved in the war. After Pearl Harbor, the draft offices were flooded with men willing to serve.”

Hayes’ SAR Chapter, along with the Daughters of the American Revolution William Whitley Chapter, will host a memorial ceremony to honor those who died.

Hayes said many people from the mountains quickly enlisted for World War II.

“Some of the mountain counties in Kentucky had so many volunteers that they didn’t have to draft,” Hayes explained.

Dianne Chambers of the William Whitley DAR group said Americans young and old should remember where they came from.

“If they looked at the past, they would understand where we are and where we are going in the future,” Chambers said.

Hayes agrees that people should learn the past to have a better future.

“You have to know what it took to get where we are today and you have to be willing to do a better job than we did,” Hayes said.

The memorial ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, December 7, 2024, at the Whitley County Courthouse in Williamsburg.

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