Thursday marks 76 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
- New Hillsborough veterans center opens with Pearl Harbor remembrance
- New Veterans Resource Center, located at 3602 N. US Highway 301
- Dec. 7, 2017: 76th anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack
- Veterans Memorial Park and Museum
The attack crippled the naval fleet and plunged the United States into World War II.
More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the Hawaiian attack and nearly 1,200 more were injured.
The somber anniversary was remembered today in Hillsborough County with the official opening of the new veteran's resource center.
Veterans Memorial Park & Museum Chairman Thomas Fletcher said the center will be able to help veterans that too often go without asking for the help they have earned.
"Believe it or not, many of them are reluctant to come forward," said Fletcher, who spent 27 years in the Navy and decades more working in veterans affairs. "Because they feel like somebody else deserves the benefit that they really do deserve and this is one of the drawbacks that we've seen over the years."
But Fletcher said Hillsborough County now has a solution.
The brand new Veterans Resource Center, located at 3602 N. US Highway 301, is adjacent to the Veterans Memorial Park. Nearly a decade in the making, this will be a location for veterans to apply for benefits and seek other assistance.
Eventually Fletcher said the facility will be the hub for veterans and their families seeking support from a variety of agencies.
"It provides a very honorable and respectable place for Veterans to come and receive support and get help," he said.
Also being unveiled during today's Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony is a new World War II memorial that lists all the names of soldiers from Hillsborough County that served during the war.