SALT LAKE CITY — Across the nation, Americans paused to remember Pearl Harbor. In Salt Lake, people shared what the day represents to them: honor, resilience, and the stories passed down through their families.
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, in Hawaii killed more than 2,300 troops. This launched the U.S. into World War II.
On Sunday, historian Ron Fox visited the Salt Lake City Cemetery and placed American flags around the grave of Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, a commander on the USS West Virginia.
"It ties so close to my own beginnings since my parents were of the greatest generation who suffered through and endured World War II," Fox said. "It makes it very important to me."
Fox says Captain Bennion stayed in the ship's command area that morning, still giving orders, even while the ship was being bombed again and again.
"He died at his post which took on terrible damage," Fox said. "Those people sacrificed their lives for all of our freedoms — we need to remember that."
This day also means a lot to Jenna Tiffany Crump. She says her father, James Tiffany, served on the USS West Virginia. She says he steered the ship for Captain Bennion the morning the attack began.
"My father is buried in Springfield, Missouri so I can't get to him and bring flowers to him so I bring it to his captain who my father respected deeply," Crump, a member of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors organization said.
Eighty-four years later, Fox, Crump and many Utahns are making sure the legacy of Pearl Harbor and the people who lived it, isn't forgotten.
"I don't want it to die with us," Crump said. "Just don't forget, don't forget."
