'Some suffered more than we did'

Floyd Johnson, a veteran of the attack on Pearl Harbor, waits to speak at Friday's ceremony.

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Story Published: Dec 8, 2007 at 11:25 AM PST

Story Updated: Nov 7, 2008 at 12:19 PM PST

By Matt Loveless

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LEWISTON - After 66 years it's a day that continues to live in infamy .

Local veterans groups hosted their annual Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony Friday in the parking lot of the Flying J in North Lewiston. The keynote speaker Friday was Cdr. Chuck Whitman, a retired 23-year Navy veteran. He is now director of the North Idaho Food Bank in Lewiston.

Whitman read the first paragraph of President Franklin Roosevelt's famous "infamy" speech from 1941, and talked about the impact on the United States.

" ...to a country that was in shock from the events from the day before in the small and exotic territory of the United States named Hawaii," said Whitman.

Three Pearl Harbor survivors live in the Valley. One of them was present at Friday's ceremony. Floyd Johnson had few words for the crowd, and put the surprise attack in perspective, keeping in mind the non-military victims of the World War.

"What people forget is what the innocent civilians went through in England, Germany, Japan, that complete destruction. Some of them suffered more than we did."

To the playing of taps, and a moment of silence, military personnel ceremonially placed a wreath into the river, a symbol of remembrance of those lost at Pearl Harbor.

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