A Tribute to Master Chief Petty Officer Bell of the United States Coast Guard on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese war planes attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. On the day of the attack, Melvin Kealoha Bell, a Coast Guard radioman who was assigned at the Diamond Head Lighthouse in Oahu, was one of the first to transmit radio messages warning commercial vessels and military installations of the attack through Morse Code. Master Chief Petty Officer Bell passed away at the age of 98 on September 9, 2018, and was laid to rest with full military honors at the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.
I grew up in a small village. Called Faleniu in American Samoa. To learn more about Master Chief Bell and what he done, I read up on him and his life was a good life. He’s done so much in the military and the civilian side.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil, for you are with me.
We come from humble beginnings. When you see other Polynesians succeed and make big contributions, we wanna do that.
I’d probably tell them, Thank you, for what you did, for the sacrifices and setting the pathway for us, future Polynesians, who are in the military. You will forever be remembered.”
Pearl Harbor anniversary reminds Airmen of Sacrifice, Significance, 77 Years Later
A framed American flag sits on display inside the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, December 7, 2016. The flag was flown on the USS St. Louis at Pearl Harbor the day of the attacks nearly 77 years ago. It was later flown on the USS Iowa at the time of the Japanese surrender in 1945.
The Honolulu Star Bulletin’s newspaper headline announced war the day of the Pearl Harbor attacks in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. The attacks shed light on the necessity of effective military communications, leading to the innovations and inventions of today’s space and cyberspace war fighting domains.
Thank you Petty Officer 1st Class Mark Barney for the video.
