'Loyalty' in Remembering Pearl Harbor, Congressman Tells Braintree Crowd

Over an 18-month stretch during World War II, six members of the Diotte family of Braintree served in the U.S. military. 

Alfred, Henry and George Diotte served in the Army, while Norman, Walter and Rita served in the Navy. A plaque commemorating the family's sacrifice stands on a stretch of grass next to Hollis Elementary School.

The Diotte's are but one of many Braintree families whose efforts, along with millions of other Americans, helped the United States succeed in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, 1941, Veterans Agent Richard Walsh said Friday morning.

"Everything really did change in one day," said Walsh, speaking at Town Hall before a crowd of local officials, veterans and the Braintree High School Concert Choir.

Walsh quoted Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during the remembrance ceremony as famously saying, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."

"How right he was," Walsh said.

Congressman Stephen Lynch joined Walsh and Mayor Joseph Sullivan in speaking Friday to how important it is to remember the attack, which killed and wounded 3,500 Americans.

"There's a certain loyalty in the simple act of remembrance," Lynch said. 

Lynch's father is a veteran of World War II, as were his uncles. His dad served in North Africa and Italy, and his mother worked as a welder during the war, a profession that Lynch himself later took up before becoming a lawmaker.

The attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent speech by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt rallied the nation, Sullivan said. "There was a sense of spirit, a sense of country... that really allowed our country to come together as one."

"We are one of a few communities who truly recognize this day," Sullivan said. "It falls to our generations to keep alive the memories of those who fell at Normandy, at Iwo Jima and Pearl Harbor."