GAINESVILLE- At Kanapaha Veterans Memorial Park this Friday, even those that weren’t alive during the Japanese attacks did their best to keep the memories of the servicemen lost, alive.
 

 

94 year old, World War II Veteran, Donal Dertien was serving in Pearl Harbor on the day of the Japanese attack 71 years ago.

 

 

Dertien came to the remembrance ceremony clutching a photo of the Navy Destroyer he served on at the time, the U.S.S. Farragut.
 

 

He still vividly recalls that morning, “An airplane came right along the starboard side and it had red meatballs on it, and we immediately knew right away.”

 

Donald Dertien was 22 years old when he  served on the Uss farragut during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, that claimed the lives of more than 24-hundred Americans.
 

 

71 years later at the age of 94 he says he’s fortunate to still tell the tale.
 

This is the Eighth annual recognition day ceremony, organized by the Korean War Vet association