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Pittsfield Remembers Pearl Harbor on Snowy Saturday

Skip Hoskeer, left, and master of ceremonies Tyrone Belanger salute at Saturday's Pearl Harbor observances.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Veterans and community members paid tribute during Saturday's snowfall to those lost at Pearl Harbor.

Eighty-three years ago on Dec. 7, Japanese planes struck the naval base and airfield at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and sparked the nation's entrance into World War II. Every year, the Berkshire Veterans Coalition and the city remember those who lost their lives during the attack with a ceremony and tree lighting at the Veterans Memorial Park.

Master of ceremonies Tyrone Belanger thanked the crowd of more than 30 people for coming out in the weather.  

"Today, observance is for those men and women who made the supreme sacrifice on fateful Sunday, December 7, 1941," veteran Ron Rousseau said.

"Approximately 80 service personnel from Berkshire County were stationed at Pearl Harbor on that day. During this horrific battle, two men from Berkshire County were killed."

The attack claimed the lives of more than 2,400 Americans including two Pittsfield residents: Petty Officer 3rd Class Roman Sadlowski and Army Air Forces 1st Sgt. Edward Burns.

The 18-year-old Sadlowski was an electrician's mate when he died on the USS Oklahoma, which was struck by multiple Japanese torpedoes and sunk. He is immortalized with an honorary plaque at the South Street park.

His unidentified remains were interred for decades in the Punchbowl, which is the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, until four years ago when they were identified through DNA comparisons with extended family members. He was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in 2022. 

Burns, also a Pittsfield native, was 24 years old when he was severely wounded in the attack and died several days later. He was attached to a squadron that had arrived in Hawaii only two days before the attack and was the first soldier killed from his station at Wheeler Field on Oahu. He is interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Skip Hoskeer read President Franklin D. Roosevelt's request for a declaration of war given at the Capitol on Dec. 8, 1941; Richard Kurek gave the opening prayer, and Joseph DiFilippo played taps. All the men are veterans.

Veteran Robert "Doc" Miller illuminated the park's tree and the Dalton American Legion Post 155 Honor Guard conducted the rifle volley.

Below are the names of county residents who were present or killed at Pearl Harbor.

Michael Baranuk
Louis D. Barnes
Joseph Baroli
Harold Bence
Gladys Beniel
Charles Berry
John J. Bilodeau
Joseph Bulwinkle
Edward Burns (killed)
Robert C. Burt
Woodford R. Chapman
John Curley
Charles Curone
Francis Deambrogio

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