Survivors to mark day of infamy

Local survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack and other veterans’ groups will mark the “day that will live in infamy” with a ceremony Saturday at the Spokane Naval and Marine Reserve Center. The 3 p.m. ceremony, open to the public, will feature a 21-gun salute to people and ships lost, music and a historian’s presentation on the attack. Cmdr. Lynn Puckett, a Naval reservist who works as a Billings, Mont., librarian in her civilian job, will show photographs and other images from the National Archives as she talks about Hawaii in the years leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack and its aftermath. She also hopes to dispel some wild rumors about the attack. “There’s a lot of flaky theories out there, everything up to Franklin Roosevelt being a spy for the Japanese,” she said. “For a while, it was almost the wild theory of the week.” About 20 veterans of the attack will attend the ceremony, said Jim Sinnott, founder and past president of the local chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. At a similar ceremony about three years ago, 44 members of the group showed up, Sinnott said. But its numbers are dwindling as the veterans, all at least in their 80s, die off. Lt. Cmdr. E. Franklin Hiler of the Reserve Center, who will lead the ceremony, said he believes the memorial is “particularly special given worldwide events.” The ceremony will take place in the main hall of the reserve center at 5101 N. Assembly.