West Haven Observes Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

By Michael P. Walsh

WEST HAVEN, CT — Florence Stoeber (pictured), wife of the late Jack Stoeber, a Navy veteran of Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima, leads the Pledge of Allegiance during the city’s observance of Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Dec. 7 at the William A. Soderman Memorial Flagpole on the Veterans Walk of Honor in Bradley Point Park.

Jack Stoeber, whose ashes were scattered in Pearl Harbor after he died Jan. 16 at age 97, was a .50-caliber machine-gunner aboard the destroyer tender USS Whitney in the Pacific theater of World War II.

Wearing a jacket embroidered with “Pearl Harbor Survivors Association Widow” on the back, Florence Stoeber, fighting back tears, spoke about her husband with deep love and reverence during the annual Pearl Harbor rites, a ceremony he had attended so many times before.

A resident of Milford, she was accompanied by her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

The nearly one-hour event commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in front of dozens of veterans and their families, residents, and city and state officials, most of whom delivered poignant remarks, including Mayor Edward M. O’Brien and his executive assistant, John W. Lewis, the master of ceremonies.

Representing the PHSA, Jerry Lehr, son of the late William Lehr, a Pearl Harbor Navy vet, read aloud the 17 Connecticut servicemen who were killed Dec. 7, 1941, at the U.S. naval base in Oahu, Hawaii, as West Haven Fire Department Lt. William Heffernan tolled the department’s chrome bell each instant a name was called.

The solemn service featured a presentation of the colors by the West Haven Police Color Guard and a flag-raising by the West Haven Fire Department Honor Guard. It also included an opening prayer by West Haven Veterans Council chaplain Frederick Kaiser and a rendition of the national anthem by Grace Kelly Nowak, as well as taps played by former West Shore Fire Department Lt. Kevin McKeon.

(City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)