Pearl Harbor remembrance day ceremony on University of Arizona campus

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - “December 7th, 1941. A date that will live in infamy.” Those words from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt still ring true today.

Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremonies were held all across the country including on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

A bell at the USS Arizona Mall Memorial rang eight times Wednesday, each one for a servicemember from Arizona who was on board and died when the ship went down.

“That’s a day that has changed how we operate as a Navy, but it’s also important to pay honor to those and let the stories be heard and remember to those who gave that sacrifice and those who are still alive today and went through that dark day,” said submarine officer and Navy Lt. Stephen Keehan.

The NROTC was in charge of putting the ceremony together.

“I actually walk the keel here quite frequently to make sure I don’t lose sight of what’s really important,” officer candidate Dylan Krug said. “I think to honor them in any way really shows how much we really appreciate their sacrifices.”

Many people that came to the ceremony spoke on the special connection between the Tucson community and the USS Arizona.

“With UA it’s a special place with the ships bell right up there in the clock tower and then obviously the etching in the grass that marks the ship with the USS Arizona, it’s important for us to stay here and pay tribute to that,” Keehan said.

One of the people in attendance was David Carter, who designed the mall memorial and mentioned there are some exciting ideas for the future for those visiting it.

“Will allow anyone with the use of a phone or laptop and from about a dozen different points be able to see a full-scale 3D visualization of what the ship looked like before the attack,” Carter said.

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