News : Grandson of sailor who served at Pearl Harbor leads memorial service

Zach Uthoff plays taps to honor the USS Arizona and those lost during attack on Pearl Harbor.

Alex Vasquez points out a ship under attack during VSMS Pearl Harbor ceremony Tuesday, Dec. 7.

The audience listens as 8th grade students read reports of officers praising men for bravery.

The uniform of Maurice Vasquez, Mr. Vasquez's grandfather, was on display.

The Golden Dragon: M.P. Vazquez earned this unofficial honor by sailing across the 180th Meridian.

Sailors who survived Pearl Harbor can be buried at sea there.

Veterans listen as Mr. Vasquez shares history of Pearl Harbor during ceremony in VSMS library.

Four World War II veterans were in the audience for the Pearl Harbor ceremony at VSMS.

Alex Vasquez, at the end of the first Pearl Harbor Memorial Service at Vinton-Shellsburg Middle School several years ago, told the small crowd that day that as long as he is a teacher, he will lead such a ceremony every Dec. 7.

Mr. Vasquez, with the help of several eighth-grade students, continued that tradition on Tuesday, the 69th anniversary of the "Day of Infamy."

Nearly 40 people, including many veterans, attended the ceremony. They heard Vasquez briefly recite the chain of events that led Japan to attack Pearl Harbor. He displayed several black and white photographs of the attack, and also spoke about the memorials placed throughout Oahu in honor of Americans who died that day.

There was a moment of silence to honor the moment that the USS Arizona sank, taking 1,177 men to their deaths. A total of 2,403 people, including civilians, were killed in that attack.

Vasquez also told the audience about recently-discovered photographs from Japanese planes involved in the attacks that help clarify the chain of events. He also spoke of the several other places on Oahu Island that were targeted that day. Many historians, he said, now refer to the attacks on Oahu, rather than just Pearl Harbor, to help preserve the history of those other places on that island that were attacked that day.

The teacher has also collected a variety of WWII souvenirs. He obtained a piece of iron from the Arizona from the National Park Service, which removed part of the ship to make room for the Memorial in 1961. There is a U.S. Navy blanket, which his grandfather, Maurice Vasquez, recovered from the Pacific Ocean after a U.S. cargo ship was sunk. His grandfather's Navy uniform, along with a copy of the Navy handbook issued to all sailors (which does, indeed, include a chapter called "How to Swim) were also on display.

Vasquez told the audience that his grandfather was at Pearl Harbor a year after the attack, and that he recalled his grandfather speaking about how that even then the smell of oil was strong as it continued to leak from the sunken ships. He also told the audience that survivors of Pearl Harbor can be buried at sea, interred in the Arizona. One of his photos showed the funeral for a former sailor there.