When Maryland's Pearl Harbor veterans gather today at the Inner Harbor to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of Japan's sneak attack on Hawaii Dec. 7, 1941, they will do so knowing their legacy is secure -- in the hands of their children.
For the first time, members of the new Maryland chapter of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors will join the veterans as their official heirs.
In 1988, the national Pearl Harbor Survivors Association formally appointed Sons and Daughters as the successor organization. Maryland's Sons and Daughters chapter, formed in April, quickly became one of the most active in the country.
"The thing that's gratifying is that there's a sense of mutual pride. We salute them, and they salute us for saluting them," said Robert P. Clark, 46, of Mount Airy, president of the Maryland chapter.
The chapter has 35 members, but it wasn't until last month that it gained its first recruit from the Baltimore area: Marynette Bollinger, 45, of Timonium.
"It is important to continue the lessons we learned," Ms. Bollinger said. "I can relate more personally because it was my father who was there, not someone in a newspaper. We take our democracy very frivolously; other countries are much more aware of it."
Her father, Richard L. Brown, survived being blown overboard from the battleship USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor to fight through the war and watch the Japanese surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in September 1945.
Among the other members are:
* Randa Poliak Villasenor, 40, of Laurel, who said her membership "keeps my father alive for me."
Her late father, Albert Poliak, was a Navy medic at Pearl Harbor, she said, "and keeping patriotism alive was a very important part of his life." * Nina DiLorenzo, 29, of Bethesda, the treasurer, whose father, Anthony DiLorenzo, is a Pearl Harbor Survivors officer, said she and her siblings became national members before the chapter was formed. "I wanted to get involved," she said. "I have learned so much from talking to these people. I don't want history to repeat itself."
* Robert Wagner, 38, of Bowie said his father, Jack Wagner, was at Hickam Field in the Army Air Corps during the attack but didn't join the survivors group until just before the 50th anniversary. His three children then joined the Sons and Daughters, Mr. Wagner said. "Dad rarely ever talked about the attack, but since we joined we've met a lot of great people and we've learned a lot more about it," he said.
Clark Martin, 78, of Richmond, Va., a retired Navy commander, sponsored the succession resolution and is the national liaison between Pearl Harbor Survivors and Sons and Daughters. "It's important for somebody to carry on after we're gone," said Mr. Martin, who was disbursing officer aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania, which was bombed while trapped in a drydock.
The seed for the Maryland Sons and Daughters chapter was planted 37 years ago, when Bob Clark, then a 9-year-old schoolboy, told his father about that day's history lesson on the Pearl Harbor attack and was incredulous when his father replied, "Yes, I know. I was there."
Clarence "Cary" Clark, 78, of Rockville, was a gunner's mate aboard the light cruiser USS Honolulu, and his gun crew downed a Japanese plane during the attack.
The United States "went from peacetime to wartime in seconds, and boys became men in that time," Mr. Clark said. "I never talked much about the war. World War II was justified, but war is always a monument to man's stupidity."
The Pearl Harbor Survivors' motto, "Remember Pearl Harbor -- Keep America Alert," reflects that feeling, Mr. Clark said. "The Sons and Daughters motto is 'Lest We Forget,' " he said.
Following his father
So impressed was young Robert Clark with what his father told him about his naval career from Pearl Harbor until he was severely wounded at Leyte Gulf in October 1944, that studying the Pacific campaign and the Honolulu's part in every major operation became his avocation.
"I think I know it as well as anyone who wasn't there," said Mr. Clark, chief of the customer services staff for the federal court system. "The human factor and the response to the sheer terror of deadly combat fascinates me. I want everyone to be proud of what their parents did."
Like the parent group, Sons and Daughters will be a firm voice for a strong and alert defense, he said.
Founded in Florida in 1972, the Sons and Daughters organization remained a loose federation of individual members until 1988, when a chapter system was organized.
Those eligible are the children or stepchildren of service men and women who were serving on the island of Oahu or on a vessel within three miles offshore at the time of the Japanese attack. As direct descendants, grandchildren also can join, adding another generation to the Pearl Harbor legacy.
The Sons and Daughters organization has about 2,000 members in 13 chapters in seven states, with two more chapters expected by the end of the year, said Andrew Shemberger, 31, of Phoenix, Ariz., national president since 1986. Growth has been slow, but interest increased with the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 1991, "so we're starting to take off now, and I think we'll continue to grow," Mr. Shemberger said.
The organization's main project across the country is to create an oral history on audio and videotape of the "Day of Infamy," told by the men and women who were there.
"I've been pushing for it for years and years," said Gerald Glaubitz, 74, mayor of Morningside in Prince George's County and former president of both the national survivors association and the Maryland chapter. "It's the greatest thing going; I'd like to see them all on video."
Such a history becomes increasingly important as more survivors die, said Martha Cassidy of Virginia Beach, a district director of the Sons and Daughters. "Once they are gone, that's it, and we can never get it back," she said. Maryland has lost 25 survivors in the last two years.
Ms. Cassidy said her interest grew from attending meetings and conventions with her father. "I love to go and just listen to these guys talk, telling their old war stories," she said. "Every one has a story to tell."
Her father narrowly escaped death when he was locked below deck when the battleship USS California was abandoned during the Japanese attack. "He banged on a ladder with a wrench and someone opened the hatch and bodies flew out," Ms. Cassidy said. "He got out, and he never knew who opened that hatch.
"I interviewed as many of the Survivors as I could, but until every one is recorded it's still like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces."
New members sought
The Maryland Sons and Daughters chapter would like to expand its membership base, especially in metropolitan Baltimore now that Ms. Bollinger has broken the ice. in becoming the first Baltimore area member. "I know there are many others out there who are eligible," Mr. Clark said. "This is important work and I hope they will join us."
Clark Martin lamented the slow growth of the Sons and Daughters but suggested that "our sons and daughters are not at an age where they can give a lot of time to anything besides their families and their jobs." Frequently those jobs take them far from their parents so there is no incentive to join, he said.
The history is out there, just waiting to be told, Ms. Cassidy said, not only by current PHS members but perhaps another 4,000 men and women eligible for membership who have not applied.
Many of them simply never have heard of the organization, she said, "It's only in the last two years that all 50 states have given Pearl Harbor Survivor license plates."
WAR ON SUNDIAL
You can hear President Franklin D. Roosevelt declaring war on Japan and music from the war years if you call Sundial at 783-1800 and punch in the four-digit code 6125. For other Sundial numbers, see the SunSource directory on Page 2A.