Speech: A Pearl Harbor Commemoration

Copyright © 2026

By Ralph F. Couey

Speech given to a high school band and parents during the week of 

Pearl Harbor commemorations at the USS Missouri, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

I'd like you to take a moment to be aware of your surroundings.  The beauty, the quiet, the serenity...the calm.  Feel the warmth of the sun and the cooling touch of the gentle breeze.  Let that peace envelop you. Then, imagine a moment when it all changed.

At 7:55 AM on December 7th, 1941, here in Pearl Harbor, that moment in time and history arrived.  The calm silence of a beautiful Sunday morning was shattered by the roar of aircraft engines, the thunder of exploding bombs, and the deadly staccato of machine gun fire.  Throughout the harbor, the strident klaxon of General Quarters alarms began sounding.  Sailors, Marines, and Soldiers raced to their battle stations.  America was thrust into war.

Despite the surprise and shock of the attack, they responded immediately.  On their own initiative and without hesitation, they manned their guns and began fighting back.  When ammunition ran low, others repeatedly went below decks into a terrifying place of darkness, flooding, smoke, and deadly fumes to bring ammunition topside.  Still others performed heroic acts of firefighting and damage control, trying to keep their dying ships afloat.  Everyone gave aid to the wounded.  Nobody ran.  Nobody hid.  They stayed at their posts until ordered to abandon ship.  When they left, the wounded went with them.  

Many acts of heroism took place that day.  16 Medals of Honor were awarded.  Eleven were posthumous.  There were certainly hundreds of other heroic acts, the accounts of which died with those who performed them.  

In those desperate hours, young men, many barely older than these students, experienced unimaginable destruction and the absolute horror of human beings, some close friends, literally torn apart by the violence that only war can inflict.  Despite it all, they did not waver.  The standards of service and sacrifice, duty and honor were established that day, an example that sustained this nation throughout the long, bitter three-and-a-half years that followed.   

Then, in Tokyo Bay, Japan, on September 2nd, 1945, Imperial Japan signed the surrender on the decks of this battleship, ending humanity's costliest and bloodiest war, which cost 69 million dead.  At the close of that ceremony, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Forces, spoke these words:

"Today, the guns are silent.  A great tragedy has ended; a great victory has been won.  Death no longer rains from the skies.  The seas bear only commerce.  Men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight.  And the entire world lies quietly at peace.  It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past—a world founded upon faith and understanding—a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish—for freedom, tolerance and justice.  Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always."

Toshikazu Kase, a member of the Japanese delegation, later reported to his Emperor that the General's words turned the deck of this warship into an altar of peace.

Missouri is a magnificent sight, a presence both majestic and powerful.  She is a vessel of war, but also a symbol of peace, for it was here on these decks that mankind's costliest and bloodiest war ended, and peace was restored.  And it was here on these decks where hope was reborn.

It is easy to focus only on Missouri's guns, missiles, and armor and assume that this is her only language.  But standing on that deck in front of the plaque, one cannot help but marvel at the magnitude of what took place that day.  However fleeting it was, it was a moment when humanity declared, "I will not kill today."

Peace, since that day, has proven to be ephemeral.  So, it becomes vital for us to remember and honor the places and days when it existed.  Because if we remember when peace existed, we will never lose the hope of peace.

For our students here, I have a personal message.

Some people are called ordinary for a reason.  They don't stand out, step up, or achieve.  Ordinary people will not change a world that so desperately needs change.  Ordinary people float downstream on a current of indifference, leaving no trace of their passage.

I challenge you to reject ordinary.  I urge you to resist the easy life of ordinary.  Choose instead to be incredible, magnificent, and awe-inspiring!  Each one of you has a set of gifts and talents no one else possesses. USE THEM!  Never accept the status quo.  Never believe that things can't change just because "they've always been this way."  In the very near future, your community, your country, your world will become your responsibility.  You must rise to meet that challenge.

Yesterday is over! Your moment is here!  Your time is now!  Seize this day and make it count.  Stand tall, be strong, lead with strength, optimism, and compassion.

We present to you our world.  I dare you to make it better.

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote this prayer:

Lest I continue my complacent way, help me to remember that somewhere, somehow out there, a man died for me today.  As long as there be war, I then must ask and answer:  Am I worth dying for?

On December 7th, 1941, men in this place fought and died protecting America.  In this dangerous world, men and women still fight and die for us.  I ask you to look now across the water to the Arizona Memorial and the remains of 1,178 brave men, and reflect on their sacrifice and what that sacrifice has gifted to us.  And remember the words of Abraham Lincoln:

"That from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which THEY gave, the last -- full -- measure of devotion.  That we -- here -- highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.  That THIS nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.  And THAT government -- of the people, by the people, and for the people -- shall not perish from the earth."

May God Bless you; may God Bless these students.  And May God Bless the United States of America.