The public is invited to the Hannah Block Historic USO/ Community Arts Center on Dec. 7 at 1:25 pm to commemorate the attack on Pearl Harbor. The unprovoked attack brought the U.S. into World War II and was a day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared “would live in infamy”. The event will feature:
The National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance presented by Chief Master Sergeant Angela Burns, US Air Force (Ret.), former choral member of the official professional chorus of the United States Air Force, The Singing Sergeants, Choir Director SACPC.
Remarks, Honorable Bill Rivenbark, Chairman, New Hanover County Commissioners and Honorable Reverend Clifford Barnett, Council Member, City of Wilmington.
Keynote Speaker Lieutenant Colonel John Weisz, US Army (Ret.), Facilitator for Remembering Our Heroes Group.
A presentation of “Wilmington’s Connection to the Attack on Pearl Harbor: Hawaii and the Wilmington Home Front, Dec. 7, 1941”, by Captain Wilbur Jones, U.S. Navy Reserve (Ret.), Chairman, World War II Wilmington Home Front Heritage Coalition.
Two new exhibits in the lobby museum. 1) A refurbished WWII era telephone booth donated by the Jacksonville, N.C., USO. It contains a 1940s coin-operated dial telephone, with vintage Bell Telephone signage and advertisements, and is similar to the wartime HBHUSO/CAC telephone booths. 2) A WWII Liberty Ship bell & lanyard scrapped by Wilmington’s Horton Metal Works from the former Brunswick River Reserve Fleet. The bell is similar to those from Liberty ships built at the WWII Wilmington Shipyard. Terry Horton donated the bell, produced by the J.M. Leoffler Corp. of Philadelphia, Pa, which is still in business. Free coffee, doughnuts, and popcorn.
The event is sponsored by the World War II Wilmington Home Front Heritage Coalition, an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) preservation organization whose mission is to identify, preserve, and interpret the rich World War II legacy of Southeastern North Carolina.