Volume 9
Fellow survivor Bob Addobati founded the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association chapter in Sacramento , Calif . But it is December 6 , 1941 that Addobati often remembered when he recalled the date of infamy .
Champions Edition
men , women and children who died from the attack would be joined by thousands of others in the seven and a half decades since .
As those able to provide firsthand accounts leave the ranks of the living , it is up to us to keep their legacies alive .
Fifteen Medals of Honor were awarded as a result of the attack . 51 Navy Crosses . 53 Silver Stars . Thousands of other acts of heroism were not recognized with medals because documenting the acts was not the priority . Saving others and fighting another day in order to defeat those who brought the war became job one . Sixty years after the attack on Pearl Harbor , America was caught off guard once again . September 11 , 2001 was another date that will live in infamy to a new generation of Americans .
Pearl Harbor survivor Robert “ Bob ” Addobati
“ There was a battle of the band contest in Chinatown that night ,” he said in 2015 . “ All the ships had different bands . I spoke to several sailors from the USS Arizona ’ s band .”
“ Eight hours later every sailor in that band was dead .”
Like so many other survivors of Pearl Harbor , the attack was not the end for Mr . Addobati .
It was the beginning for the 19-year-old signalman on the USS Solace . He would later lose his leg after his ship was torpedoed at the Admiralty Islands .
He would raise a family , retire from the U . S . Postal Service and survive until January 15thof this year when , at the age of 93 , he would reunite with his Fallen but never forgotten comrades .
So many are gone now . The more than 2,400
Many of the 9 / 11 heroes were veterans . Nearly all were taught about the Pearl Harbor attack in history class . There was something very American about their response .
It would mark the beginning of another painful war – one against global terrorists that continues to this day .
And while military members of the Greatest Generation took incredible risks to save their comrades , we saw similar courage from police officers , firefighters and first responders who en-
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