News : Help remember Pearl Harbor: 70-year Memorial Service at noon on Dec. 7 at VSMS

VSMS student Zach Uthoff played taps at the 2010 Pearl Harbor memorial; 2011 event is Wednesday.

Seventy years to the minute from the time that Japanese planes began attacking Pearl Harbor, the grandson of a U.S. Navy veteran will stand in front of a group of students and veterans, remembering the USS Arizona and the more than 2,000 Americans who died that day.

Vinton-Shellsburg Middle School teacher Alex Vasquez leads a Pearl Harbor Memorial Service each Dec. 7. The event takes place in the school library, as Vasquez shares a history of what happened that day, and students read reflections from men who were there. Each year, Vasquez shares something new about that day, as historians continue to study the events of the "Day of Infamy" and its impact on U.S. and world history.

The public is invited, as always. As the first ceremony concluded several years ago, one veteran said he wished more people had attended. I agree.

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, dozens of area veterans will join Mr. Vasquez and many of his students in the VSMS library. The public is invited. Those who come will see a display of World War II memorabilia that includes a U.S. Navy blanket that Vasquez' grandfather pulled from the Pacific Ocean; it came from another ship that had been attacked by Japanese airplanes. A piece of the U.S.S. Arizona is part of that display as well.

See a story from last year's service HERE.