Jim Lisa, a U.S. Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, said of the annual remembrance ceremony, “It means a lot to me. … I hope other people feel the same way, so the sacrifices that they made are not forgotten.”

Members of the Samuel Cimino Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6472 in Silver Creek have gathered each Dec. 7 for roughly two decades on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor to remember the 2,403 lives lost and the many more that were drastically impacted that day in Hawaii 82 years ago. Thursday was no different from the past two decades of ceremonies held by the group of veterans, many of which have been attending year after year.

“Many of us were in the Navy,” Lisa said of the group who gathered along the boat launch at Sunset Bay Marina. “I was on a ship so I know what it’s like. I can just imagine what those people went through. It was a horrific thing.”

After a trumpet played and shots were fired, a wreath was tossed into the water. The group of veterans departed shortly afterward.

Post Commander Dick Henry, right, addressed a group of veterans gathered for a ceremony of remembrance on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The event was not widely attended, with just a few cars parked in the parking lot on a breezy morning with temperatures dipping just below 40 degrees.

“It’s always a small turnout, because for Pearl Harbor, it seems like the country doesn’t have a big hoopla like they have for other things,” Lisa said. He noted that even locally among other chapters, his group is one of the few to hold an annual remembrance ceremony.

“You do it because you want to do it,” Lisa said. “Maybe the next generation will see you and say it’s something they should be doing too.”