KRONBERG: This week marks the 77th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. NCC News’ Cooper Boardman explains how the attack connects Central New York and Honolulu/
RICE: “I was waiting for a motor launch. I never got there. While I was standing there waiting, there was one plane going over. I could see a little red dot on the side. It really didn’t impress me much. I didn’t think too much of it. I noticed afterward a whole squadron go over.”
BOARDMAN: Charles Rice is one of more who 5,000 Central New Yorkers that served during World War II. Rice, a U.S. Navy Veteran from Glens Falls, was on the deck of the battleship U.S.S. Detroit when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
RICE: “I was credited with bringing down the first Japanese plane. That stuck with me.”
BOARDMAN: World War II marked a big transition in Onondaga County. Factories that manufactured typewriters, washing machines, and air conditioners made gun mounts, landmines, and radar systems instead. One New York-located company had a huge impact on the homefront and abroad, says Timothy Rizzuto, Executive Director of the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum in Albany.
RIZZUTO: “Nobody realizes the contributions this area made to the war effort, particularly General Electric. They were big cutting reduction gears for ships—I don’t think any navy ship went to sea without General Electric equipment on board.”
BOARDMAN: On the day of the attack, Syracuse’s telephone and telegraph companies reported increases in calls and messages—one even said there were “many messages from folks in the east asking their relatives on the west coast to move to this part of the country.” World War II Historian Alan Allport says the attacks also had another effect population.
ROOSEVELT: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
BOARDMAN: Seventy-two men from the Syracuse area were stationed in Hawaii on the day of the attack. Thirty-eight from New York died aboard the U.S.S. Arizona, a battleship that was sunk in the attacks. On December 7, 2018, the Syracuse Crunch play the Binghamton Devils at the War Memorial Arena. Inside the arena, 50,000 names of war veterans line the walls. Less than a football field away, more than 1,000 fans belt Sweet Carolina inside the building, a concrete edifice set among glass paneled high rises and brick storefronts in downtown Syracuse. The names on the walls honor fallen Onondaga County war veterans, including some from World War II—and Pearl Harbor. “Alfred F. Wells, Don Baldrachi, Larry Parry…” These are some of the names of the Central New Yorkers who died on December 7, 1941. Their names overlook tonight’s hockey game. The War Memorial’s continued use is a way to honor them. Timothy Russo’s Destroyer museum honors these veterans with a yearly event on the seventh that brings local cadets face to face with Pearl Harbor veterans.
RIZZUTO: “That would give these young students a chance to interact with the World War II veterans and share stories and memories.”
BOARDMAN: Rizzuto believes relics like the War Memorial and remembrance events build deep connections.
RIZZUTO: “It’s a nice, intergenerational experience for them.”
“Remember, remember the seventh of December, Japan’s treachery, infamy and plot. By Americans all, and yet to be born, should never never be forgot.”
This quote from Army Lieutenent Colonel A.L. Moorshead lines a wall inside the War Memorial Arena in downtown Syracuse. On December 7, 2018—the 77th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor Day attacks—the Syracuse Crunch play the Binghamton Devils at the War Memorial Arena.
“It’s always amazing, every year,” Crunch Head Coach Ben Groulx said about playing in the War Memorial.
Fans in blue and white jerseys stream into the arena below an “ONONDAGA COUNTY WAR MEMORIAL” sign that garners the front of the building. Six American flags flutter in the breeze below.
Paul Samansky, an avid Crunch fan since the inaugural ‘94 season sits in section 19 tonight. Row three. ”The energy’s great… a sold out crowd, it gets really loud in here,” Samansky said. “The Crunch are a really big part of the community.”
The franchise’s ties to the community and military are significant; the Crunch hold a Veterans Day game in an effort to “honor veterans and active military members,” said Megan Cahill, the team’s Senior Manager of Public Relations & Digital Media.
The Pearl Harbor attack includes plenty of local connections. Seventy-two men from the Syracuse area were stationed in Hawaii on the day of the attack, while on the homefront, companies such as General Electric made gun mounts, land mines and radar systems.
In Albany, the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum/USS SLATER runs an annual Pearl Harbor celebration, although the number of living veterans has dwindled throughout the years.
“We don’t have any actual Pearl Harbor veterans anymore,” said the museum’s executive director, Timothy Rizzuto. “That’s one of the saddest parts of this job, watching that generation slip away.”
Rizzuto seats World War II veterans with current cadets at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany. He says it provides an inter-generational experience.
“That would give these young students a chance to interact with the World War II veterans and share stories and memories.”
The War Memorial's walls are lined with letters penned by local students to veterans of wars such as World War II. 
Original sketches of the War Memorial's main hall, which includes John McCrae’s poem "In Flanders Fields." 
The War Memorial Arena originally opened in 1951 and features displays that include World War I and II relics. 
