Pearl Harbor attack memorialized at Avon Lake American Legion Post 211

AVON LAKE — American Legion Post 211 in Avon Lake did its part Tuesday to ensure that "a date which will live in infamy" is not forgotten, honoring those who lost their lives in the Pearl Harbor attack on its 80th anniversary. Veterans and guests gathered to reflect on the assault that prompted the United States' formal entry into World War II. The event was open to the public and included multiple speeches and presentations from veterans and local leaders. "We sometimes lose track of the meaning of numbers," said Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka, referencing the more than 2,400 Americans who died in the attack by the Japanese military. Zilka said he had been reading about the attacks and learned about a man who is trying to find the grave of a friend who died that day. "Those numbers are just numbers until we put a face with them, put a family with that person and appreciate the sacrifice that they made so we can be free, and also the family's sacrifice of losing their loved one, but all doing it in the name of our American flag and our way of life," he said. Although no known survivors of the attack were in the audience Tuesday, there was at least one attendee who remembered that day and the impact it had on their lives. Navy veteran and Avon Lake resident Jack Duff, 93, served from 1945 through 1949 during World War II. On Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 — the day of the Pearl Harbor attack — he remembered being in a theater in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. "In the afternoon, they stopped the movie and announced the attack on Pearl Harbor. I was in high school," Duff said. The son of a coal miner, he decided he didn't want to work in the mine or enlist in the Army. He quit school and was told by his father to either get back in school or get a job. Duff said he went to Pittsburgh and got a job working on steamboats, which started his career with boats and led to his enlistment in the Navy. He recalled serving in the Atlantic and said he spent almost three years on the USS Mindoro, as well as time on the USS Salerno Bay. For others who were too young to be alive when Pearl Harbor was attacked, their connection to the event came from members of their family. Janet Pavlic said her father-in-law, Michael Pavlic, was stationed at Pearl Harbor with the Army when the attack happened. She is part of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors organization and helped place a wreath in front of the American Legion post during the ceremony Tuesday. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.