Norwich — At the conclusion of Monday’s Pearl Harbor Day memorial ceremony outside City Hall, Greg Carlson looked at the framed photo of his uncle, Harry Carlson of Norwich, who was killed in the first wave of the Japanese attack on the USS Arizona.

Greg Carlson wondered aloud what hand his uncle had used to write a letter to his brother, Greg’s father, about looking forward to coming home to Norwich and going hunting. The letter, one of the family’s prized possessions from the uncle who died 14 years before Greg Carlson was born, was written while Harry was serving aboard the Arizona.

Navy Storekeeper 3 Harry Carlson and Seaman First Class Michael Quarto of Norwich were killed aboard the Arizona during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They were among the 17 Connecticut residents killed in the attack and are entombed aboard the Arizona, a designated National Memorial site.

“I can’t help but think he never made it to age 65,” said Greg Carlson, who recently turned 65. Harry Carlson was 20 when he died.

Greg Carlson and his siblings, Rosalyn LaChapelle of Voluntown and Naomi Crowley of Norwich, have attended the annual Norwich Pearl Harbor Day ceremony, along with members of the Quarto family, at the invitation of ceremony host, the Norwich Area Veterans Council.

Rozann Valenti and Ashley Lawton of Bozrah, nieces of Michael Quarto, and Sandy Quarto of Norwich, wife of Michael Quarto’s nephew, also attended. Each relative was presented with a red rose as part of the ceremony.

Deacon Bryan Jones of St. Mary’s Church in Jewett City and a Norwich police chaplain opened the ceremony with a prayer that the more than 50 attendees and those not in attendance would remember the Pearl Harbor Day casualties during the 79th anniversary of the attack.

“We ask you, focus our minds and our hearts on those who gave their lives for this country that day,” Jones prayed, “including Norwich’s own, Harry Carlson and Mike Quarto. May their bravery and sacrifice never be forgotten.”

John Waggoner, president of the veterans council, read the names of all 17 Connecticut men killed in the attack and asked for a moment of silence for the 1,177 of the Arizona’s 1,400 crew killed that day.

Waggoner read a chronology of the Japanese attacks, including graphic details of how the first 1,800-pound armor-piercing bomb struck the Arizona, passed through four decks in less than seven seconds and hit a powder magazine. Then a second powder magazine exploded.

“A fountain of flame and black smoke shot skyward, and the ship appeared to leap from the water, its foremast pitched forward and deck was opened like a flower,” Waggoner read.

Fires burned for three days, and now, 79 years later, the sunken ship “still bleeds oil,” Waggoner said.

Ten days after America declared war on Japan on Dec. 8, 1941, Don Reid and Sammy Kaye wrote a song, “Remember Pearl Harbor.” On Monday, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and veterans council member Tom Callinan, former Connecticut state troubadour, sang the song during the ceremony, urging the audience to join in the chorus.

“Let’s remember Pearl Harbor as we go to meet the foe,” Callinan sang. “Let’s remember Pearl Harbor as we did the Alamo. We will always remember how they died for liberty. Let’s remember Pearl Harbor and go on to victory.”

Callinan added a new ending verse.

“And they remembered Pearl Harbor and went on to victory.”

c.bessette@theday.com