Just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, more than 350 Japanese military aircraft launched a surprise bombing of the United States naval base Pearl Harbor and nearby military airfields and bases near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack resulted in damage to 19 U.S. naval ships, including eight battleships, five of which were sunk. The attack also damaged over 385 U.S. military aircraft of which 180 were destroyed.

A total 2,403 Americans died in the attack, including 68 civilians, and another 1,178 people were wounded. Of those who lost their lives, 1,177 were crew members of the battleship Arizona which had been hit with an armor-piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart and sinking it within seconds.

The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan, and the United States then became involved in World War II.

As we approach the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it is important for us to not forget that the deadly and destructive attack on Dec. 7, 1941, is embedded in the memories of those who are old enough to recall the shocking event of that day.

Some of the memories relayed by lifelong Groton residents provide a look at the circumstances they experienced.

William Scarano, 93, remembered that he and his friend, Tommy Norcott, were walking home from high school, when a woman they knew at the end of Warner Street came outside her house and announced in a loud voice: “They had just bombed Pearl Harbor.” Scarano indicated that he and Norcott had no idea as to even where Pearl Harbor was.

Scarano further relayed that he was in his junior year at Fitch High School at the time and the following March, after he turned 18, he joined the Navy. He ultimately became a submarine sailor and in February 1944 was stationed aboard the submarine Sealion (SS-315) which, at the time, was being built at the Electric Boat Company in Groton. He was continuously stationed on this boat from the time it was commissioned in June 1944 until it was decommissioned in February 1946 and was on board during the boat’s six war patrols during World War II.

Everest Brustolon, 98, indicated he had been working second shift at the Electric Boat Company as a machinist apprentice the night before the bombing and had slept in the next morning. Upon his getting up in the afternoon, he turned on the radio and learned that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. He described experiencing a “cold sweat” knowing that the United States would now be at war against the Japan.

At the beginning of the war he was told that the need to build submarines would exempt those working at the company and not to worry about being drafted into the military. Ultimately, the government needed all able men in the military, and the deferment for those working at Electric Boat was discontinued.

Brustolon subsequently took his physical examination for the military; however, he received a medical exemption. He continued working in the submarine program at Electric Boat.

Arthur Greenleaf, 97, had enlisted in the National Guard in February 1941, ten months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The division he had been assigned to had activated in anticipation that the United States would ultimately become involved in the war against Germany.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, his unit was stationed at Camp Blanding in Florida. Right after the bombing he remembers a complete recall of military personnel assigned to the base. He also recalls that because of the uncertainty or concern that the Japanese might attack another military installation on the east coast — possibly his — that they moved and camouflaged all the unit’s vehicles in “wooded areas” near the base.

Greenleaf participated in several combat operations in the Asiatic Pacific Theater, including the infamous invasion of Luzon Island in the Philippines. For his heroic and meritorious actions during this invasion, he was awarded the Bronze Star.

Although all of those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, deserve our remembrance and thanks for their service and sacrifice that day, I would like to acknowledge one of those who lost his there that day.

Groton resident William E. Seely was one of the 1,177 Navy men who lost his life and was entombed on the battleship Arizona when it sank during the Pearl Harbor attack.

William Eugene Seely was born on Oct. 8, 1922. He resided with his family on Fairview Avenue. He attended the Pleasant Valley Elementary School and graduated from Robert E. Fitch High School in 1940. While attending Fitch High, he was an honor student and was on the school’s football and track teams.

Shortly after graduating from high school, and one week after turning 18, he enlisted in the United States Navy.

After graduating from Navy basic training, he was stationed aboard the USS Arizona. He was 19 when he gave his life and was the first Groton resident killed in World War II.

There were two others from southeastern Connecticut, Mike Quarto and Harry Carlson, both of Norwich, who lost their lives on the Arizona. More interestingly, Quarto and Seely enlisted together on Oct. 15, 1940.

In 1954, a newly constructed elementary school near Navy housing in the western section of Groton was named in honor of William Seely. His name is inscribed in a marble wall inside a memorial shrine constructed above the sunken Arizona.

Seely’s name is also inscribed on memorial panels at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and the Groton Veterans and War Memorial Park. A special plaque bearing his name is also on display at Fitch High School.

The attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941, and the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, are burned into the memories of those who recall or experienced those dreadful events. It is important that we never forget those who lost their lives on those occasions.

Jim Streeter is the Groton town historian.