MAINE, USA — Gov. Janet Mills directed that the United States and State of Maine flags be flown at half-staff statewide Monday in honor of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
Altogether more than 2,300 U.S. troops died in the 1941 Japanese attack, which launched the U.S. into World War II.
“Today, on the seventy-ninth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we pause to remember the courageous servicemembers and civilians lost on that fateful day and pay tribute to all those who bravely defended the values we hold most dear in the conflict that followed,” Mills said. “Their heroism and sacrifice fundamentally altered the course of history and secured for countless people across the globe the blessings of liberty. Today, and every day, let us be thankful for those who selflessly served our nation.”
Sen. Angus King offered the following remembrance message on Twitter:
Andrews American Legion Post #17 stepped up to continue a tradition in Portland's East End. The AMVETS usually hold the ceremony at the USS Maine Memorial in Fort Allen Park but because of the COVID-19 situation it was to going be cancelled. The American Legion, however, stepped in at the last minute and the event went on with a wreath laying and playing of taps.
The Legion Post says it was very important to keep this ceremony from not happening.
“We decided yesterday at a late moment down there that we should do something," Ernie Shorey of Andrews American Legion Post #17 said. "And we have limited resources, we have a lot of faithful people, we have a lot of spirit.”
The City of Bangor posted a tribute to Private First Class Willard Carleton Orr, a 1939 graduate of Bangor High School, who was on duty as a head cook at Hickam Field, Hawaii when he was killed in a coordinated sneak attack. He was 20 years old.