WWII Veterans and Pearl Harbor Survivors to Be Honored on the 80th Anniversary of Bombing

Heroes are returning to Hawaii, 80 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. WWII veterans have boarded flights to take part in the 80th commemoration of the Pearl Harbor bombing. 

The attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces killed 2,403 Americans, including 68 civilians. But 101-year-old survivor David Russell says some people do not believe the veterans' stories.

"When I was in the VA Hospital there in San Francisco, they said, 'We want you to talk about World War II'" Russell said. "And I says, 'when we talk about it, people don't believe us. They just walk away.' So now, people want to know more about it, so we're trying to talk about it."

It's not only survivors who will be honored during the Pearl Harbor commemoration. So will the remains of 33 sailors who served on the USS Oklahoma and were identified using DNA and dental records in October 2021.

This final group of formerly unknown Oklahoma sailors will be laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

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