Pearl Harbor attack unleashed World War II's fury

The headline grabbed his attention, and Allen “Gus” Miller of Eunice immediately purchased a copy of the newspaper that had sent him spinning.
“I was shocked, like everyone else, when I saw that Pearl Harbor had been bombed,” Miller, an Army veteran, said. “I was on my way to work in Bayou Sale, near Centerville and Franklin. We were going to work on a lumber lease in the swamp near there.”
“We were walking into a restaurant in New Iberia to get coffee and breakfast, and I bought the paper when I saw it. War was declared on Japan the next day.”
Miller joined the Army in 1946, as soon as he was of age, and trained for an anti-aircraft artillery division at Ft. Bliss, Texas before he was shipped to an airbase 20 miles outside Tokyo, Japan.
“I didn’t see any combat,” Miller said. “I served during the armed occupation of Japan, and we gave the combat veterans a chance to come home.”
Today marks the 73rd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. More than 2,400 persons died that a day, and another 1,178 were injured in the surprise attack.
The Museum of WW II in New Orleans will host several events today in remembrance of the attack. From 10 a.m.-2 p.m, Color a “Remember Pearl Harbor” propaganda poster will be hosted in the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion. The Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony will also be hosted in the pavilion from 11:30 a.m.-noon. The ceremony will feature the Presentation of Colors by US Coast Guard Color Guard and historian Tommy Lofton presenting on the bombing and the significance of the events of that day. There will also be a Lagniappe Lecture,“73 Years Ago: The Pearl Harbor Attack,” from 1-2 p.m. in the H. Mortimer Favrot Orientation Center. The lecture will be given by Park Ranger Jack Henkels, formerly of the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu.
On Dec. 13, the museum will also open a new exhibit “Road to Berlin” in the Campaigns of Courage pavilion, another of the chapters in history that were written after the Japanese attack.
The display includes a comprehensive narrative of the stories and events in Europe prior to D-Day in June 1944, the challenges, strategies, and operations that paved the way to Normandy, and the battles that ensued. The eight galleries within the exhibit include images, oral histories, artifacts, and displays that show the battle settings and villages. More than 2,000 visitors are expected over the course of the opening weekend.
“We are hosting veterans and people who donated artifacts for a private viewing December 11 and 12,” said Kacey M. Hill, director of communications at the museum. “RSVPs have been coming in from veterans in California, Lafayette, Ohio, Texas, and Philadelphia. Someone from the French Resistance who donated artifacts to the Berlin display will also be here.”
“We appreciate the effort the veterans and their families are making to be here for the event.”
The exhibit is the first of two displays that will be housed in the pavilion. The next exhibit, Road to Tokyo, will be completed and opened in Dec. 2015. Planning for the expansion began in 2003, and the total price tag for the project is $325 million.
“This is the heart of the museum,” Hill said. “If we had to start the museum from scratch tomorrow, this would be the first exhibit.”
“The museum is a great place to visit for Pearl Harbor Day. We have the film ‘Beyond All Boundaries,’ artifacts from Pearl Harbor, and 8,000 recorded oral histories, some of which are from survivors of attack. We always see an uptick in numbers, a surge of visitors, for Memorial Day, Veterans Day and other patriotic days.”
The next major event hosted at the pavilion will be the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge later this month.