Pearl Harbor Survivor Richard Hopkins of Berkshire finds the honored name of Owego Seaman Delmar Dale Sibley, entombed in the Battleship USS Arizona, since Dec. 7, 1941, on the WWII Memorial in Owego’s Courthouse Square on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Dec. 7, 2012.
Sunday, Dec. 7, 194l is a date to recognize Pearl Harbor survivors and those who served. Approximately 1,104 men aboard the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona were killed after a 1,760-pound bomb penetrated into the forward magazine, causing catastrophic explosions.
Still entombed is Owego Seaman Delmar Dale Sibley. Owego and Tioga County’s first WWII fallen
Pearl Harbor Survivor Richard Hopkins of Berkshire finds the honored name of Owego Seaman Delmar Dale Sibley, entombed in the Battleship USS Arizona, since Dec. 7, 1941, on the WWII Memorial in Owego’s Courthouse Square on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Dec. 7, 2012.
hero was 23 days before his 24th birthday. He enlisted in the Navy on Oct. 15, 1940. After training he boarded the Battleship Arizona in San Diego and sailed to the Hawaiian Islands.
Four others from Tioga County survived Pearl Harbor. They saw later combat in the Pacific Theatre, came home, and resumed their civilian lives with their families. One is still living and three are deceased.
Owego and Tioga County Remembers Pearl Harbor at 12:55 p.m. Monday at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial. Her Pearl Harbor Survivors include Army Air Corps Staff Sergeant Charles “Bill” Kennedy who planned to return to Pearl Harbor for his second ceremonial visit – but his doctor at his “snow bird” location in Raleigh. N.C. recommended the WWII Greatest Generation hero, now 94 years old, stay home and watch the ceremony on television.
Pictured, is WWII Hero Seaman Delmar Sibley, who served aboard the U.S.S. Arizona.
The deceased who served at Pearl Harbor include Army Tech Sergeant and Cook Donald Stocks of Owego; Marine Lester Dunham of Owego, also a veteran of combat on Guadalcanal; and Army Sergeant Richard Hopkins of Berkshire, a recipient of the nation’s fourth highest award the Bronze Star Medal for intense combat on Guadalcanal.
On Friday afternoon, Dec. 7, 2007, in the downstairs lounge of the Glenn A. Warner Post 1371, the V.F.W. dedicated the Delmar Dale Sibley Memorial Dining Hall and unveiled his oil portrait.
U.S. Navy Commander Craig Washington of the Defense Contract Management Agency at Lockheed Martin-Owego, presented Seaman Sibley’s medals once again, including the Purple Heart and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial Ribbon after the Flood of 2011 filled the V.F.W.’s downstairs lounge and damaged the portrait and the shadowbox of medals. Owego and Tioga County never forgets her veterans.
