SANFORD — For most who attended the commemoration on Wednesday of the attacks on Pearl Harbor by the empire of Japan on Dec. 7, 1941, it had happened before they were born.

The attacks claimed 2,403 lives, wounded 1,178 others, and decimated the U.S. fleet berthed in Hawaii, according information provided by  the U.S. Census.

The attacks  launched the United States into World War II, which had been raging in Europe since September 1939.

Several local veterans, a handful of civilians, the local junior Naval ROTC color guard and others gathered beside the ice-skimmed Number One Pond to mark the occasion.

There was a prayer, a gun salute, and Vietnam era veteran Bob Seckar slipped a wreath onto the pond.

A bugler sounded Taps.

Robert Martin of the Sanford Veterans of Foreign Wars post acted as chaplain.

“Help us to always remember Pearl Harbor and keep America alert,” he prayed. “Remember our shipmates and friends.”

He went  on to quote  the scriptures: “Greater love have no man than this; that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Seckar, of Acton, said he served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era. On Wednesday however, he was representing World War II veterans.

“It’s been 75 years,”  he said of the Pearl Harbor attack. “We want to keep the tradition going,” he said of the commemoration of that day.

“This is a day we should remember,” said Karl Huntley, chairman of the Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Committee.

In Old Orchard Beach, veterans and supporters raised the flag just before 8 a.m. to mark the occasion.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].