Pearl Harbor Survivors In NYC Mark 73rd Anniversary Of Attack

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Sunday marked the 73rd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

CBS2's Ilana Gold spoke with local survivors who came together for a ceremony at the USS Intrepid to honor and remember those who perished.

Chick Galella, 93, remembers Pearl Harbor vividly, even decades later.

"It seems it was like yesterday," he said.

The Army veteran was in the barracks when the Japanese attacked and killed his childhood friend John Horan, of Sleepy Hollow. The airman's death still affects Galella to this day.

"He got killed that day," he said tearfully.

Aaron Chabin, of Bayside, Queens, was an 18-year-old Army corporal sitting in his bunk just seconds before the bombing.

"We heard an explosion and somebody ran out to the balcony and planes came whizzing by," the 91-year-old said.

For 94-year-old Robert Eaken, of Bayonne, New Jersey, memories of Pearl Harbor bring back too much pain.

"I'm getting too old to think about those things anymore," he said. "I'm just happy to be alive, that's all."

But on the 73rd anniversary of the attack, the three survivors were happy to reunite and lay a wreath in the Hudson River in honor of the thousands who lost their lives that day, Gold reported.

"That's the least I can do; honor them, not honor me," Galella said.

And no matter how many years pass, these veterans know how important it is to keep the tradition going.

"I'm one of the few left, and I think I'm one of the youngest," said Chabin.

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