Remembering Pearl Harbor, 70 years later

Six men who 70 years ago survived one of the most horrendous attacks on American soil -- the decimating of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor -- were honored Wednesday at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale.

More than 150 veterans from wars in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Korea and elsewhere gathered in an airplane hangar full of memorabilia to solemnly applaud the living reminders of heroism and loss on Dec. 7, 1941.

"Every year I'm alive it gets better and better because I'm here to talk about it," said Gerald Barbosa of East Meadow, who was on the USS Raleigh and who, at 88, is the youngster of the group. "We must never forget."

Sitting on gunmetal gray chairs not far from the remains of a sky-blue Catalina "flying boat" airplane from the 1940s, the survivors remembered fallen comrades.

Barbosa recalled torpedoes hitting his light cruiser's port and stern; remembered how he and other sailors fought to save their ship as vessels around it sunk. He even spoke about the chest wound shortly before D-Day that knocked him out of action for a few days.

But he still couldn't speak about the friends he lost on what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called "a date which will live in infamy." Barbosa said, "The bad stuff is sometimes too hard to talk about."

The Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor left 2,403 dead and thrust the United States into a second world war.

An empty chair was a silent reminder of the fragile nature of history -- one of the survivors set to be honored instead spent the day in the hospital after suffering a stroke two days ago.

William Halleran, 93, of Merrick, a machine-gunner on the cruiser USS Phoenix, had been among the most active of the six honored, a family friend said.

"It's a shame because he's president of the group, but he's happy they are remembering," Navy Lt. Peter Meehan said.

Halleran -- among the survivors featured in Wednesday's Newsday -- was admitted to Nassau University Medical Center late Monday night and remains in the intensive-care unit in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The other Pearl Harbor survivors honored were: Richard Abeles, 90, of Brentwood; Bernard Berner, 91, of South Setauket; Michael Montelione, 92, of Farmingdale; and Seymour Blutt, 93, of Brooklyn.

The gathering is a bittersweet reminder of the price of liberty, said Bill Stratemeier, of the Long Island chapter of the Air Force Association, which organizes the event.

"It hurts to see fewer of them there because we got to know them," Stratemeier said.

After nearly two hours, the ceremony wrapped up and the hangar door opened. The crowd watched as a pilot and co-pilot climbed into a World War II-era T-6 training plane.

Barbosa stood straight, smiling as the propeller-driven plane buzzed off the rain-soaked runway on its annual mission to drop commemorative roses over the Statue of Liberty.