Georgia veterans share lesson of Pearl Harbor

At 12:55 p.m. Sunday in Peachtree City, the U.S. flag, 48 stars flying, was lowered to half-staff.

It was 67 years to the minute since Japanese war planes commenced their attack on U.S. forces in Pearl Harbor.

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Joey Ivansco/jivansco@ajc.com

Roy E, Mooney (left), 85, shares a handshake and laugh with Bob Konrad, a World War II veteran who served on the aircraft carrier Antietam. Mooney, one of 43 living Pearl Harbor survivors in Georgia, was at Falcon Field in Peachtree City for Sunday’s 2008 Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration festivities.

• Photos: Pearl Harbor remembered in Peachtree City

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Sixty-seven years since Pvt. Roy Mooney, stationed on Oahu, heard the noise outside, left his breakfast and ran out to see planes painted with red Rising Suns racing overhead.

Several dozen World War II veterans joined Mooney, now 85, and the Commemorative Air Force Dixie Wing for the memorial event at Falcon Field.

As the flag lowered and the anthem played, Mooney and other white-haired veterans joined the audience in a salute. Some of them could only stand with a cane. Some of the salutes were palsied. But they were there for a reason.

“I feel proud,” said Mooney, who now lives in Cleveland, Ga. “Not personally proud, and not wanting to brag. I don’t want personal glory.”

What he does want, he said: “Education.”

New generations must learn the lessons of this, he said. “Be ready,” he advised.

When the trial comes, “personal feelings, likes and dislikes, have to go out the window.”

He added, “You can’t always wait, wait, wait. Sometimes you’ve got to act.”

Mooney was the only Pearl Harbor survivor at the Peachtree City event, as far as officials there knew. None of the speakers, from the mayor to the state legislators to the local American Legion post commander, was even born by Dec. 7, 1941.

Hawaii, where the attack occurred, didn’t even have a star on the flag then. It is about to celebrate 50 years of statehood.

“The key word here is remembering,” said state Sen. Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone) as he addressed the crowd in a hangar. Echoing the other speakers, he thanked the veterans. “We wouldn’t be here today, we wouldn’t be able to participate in free elections, if it weren’t for their service.”

That’s what Arthur Ziegler fought for.

“Democracy,” said Ziegler, 85. “Everybody has a right to choose the way they live.”

As a World War II-era dive-bomber, a “Dauntless,” flew overhead Sunday, Ziegler didn’t need to look behind him to see what it was. “I know it when I hear it,” said Ziegler. “Throaty. Husky. Tough and rough.”

On island after island in the Pacific, Ziegler ran a ground crew for a plane like that.

Ziegler, Mooney and several other veterans interviewed at the event weren’t too happy about the outcome of the presidential election last month.

But in a singularly American twist, it’s also what they fought for, with no regrets.

Asked if he’d lay down his life again, knowing what he knows now, Mooney didn’t even blink.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We didn’t fight for Republicans and Democrats. We fought for America.”