A reunion in Mason City this weekend is gathering nearly 100 former U-S Marines who were at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked in 1941. Reunion organizer Jim O’Brien of Mason City says the attendance numbers drop a little more at each annual meeting of two battalions of Marines who were at Pearl Harbor. The 79-year-old O’Brien says the conversation will focus mostly on two things — how everyone’s health is doing and the events of December 7th. Besides meeting for chats and a big banquet, the former Marines will be taking trips to the casino in Tama and to the Mall of America near the Twin Cities. O’Brien says they’ll be “reminiscing about some of the fun things we did and some of the other not-so-fun things.” He saw the recent blockbuster movie “Pearl Harbor” and says he liked it. He says it was mostly factual, except for the planes flying between buildings. Remembering the devastating Sunday morning attack nearly 61 years ago, O’Brien says everyone was taken by surprise. O’Brien remembers well waking up that morning of “infamy” to Japanese zeroes flying over his barracks, grabbing a rifle and running outside to try and shoot down the attackers.
