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WASHINGTON — For those Washington City residents wondering why the bell kept ringing, it was the sound of freedom — 67 times.
Military veterans and residents gathered at Veterans Park to brave the cool morning temperatures on Thursday. The mission of many in the crowd was one of remembrance.
Mayor Kress Staheli and councilman Kurt Ivie both gave speeches during the city's first Pearl Harbor and USS Utah Remembrance Day, to be held annually on Dec. 7 — the day the United States was attacked in Hawaii during World War II.
The story of the USS Utah was told, a ship originally not fired upon by Japanese planes who were targeting aircraft carriers that day. For reasons unknown, six planes strayed from the attack formation while firing torpedoes on two ships near each other.
"As legacies of that tragic day, the hulls of two battleships — the USS Arizona and the USS Utah — remain in the waters of Pearl Harbor," Staheli read from a proclamation. "Washington City will conduct a ceremony to begin at 8:01 a.m. on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day to honor the lives lost on the USS Utah so that the ship and her sailors are forgotten no more."
Read more at St. George News.
