This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Peter Limon was a teenage sailor in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The now-93-year-old was waiting in the San Diego airport Saturday for a flight to Hawaii, returning for events marking the 75th anniversary of the surprise attack from Japan.
When members of Uintah High School's band told him they were headed the same way to perform in memorial events, he was delighted. "I heard about the band, very nice," he said, smiling, on the band's Facebook Live update to friends and family. He shared memories and posed for pictures with some of the Vernal-area teenagers — with each side thanking the other for its service.
"When they got through with us, we had no airplanes to fly. They were all destroyed," recounted Limon, who said he was a "very young, very handsome" radioman aboard PBY aircraft.
Uintah High's band is one of two Utah bands marching in the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade on Wednesday and performing at other events. The Park City High School band is slated to be nearly the last parade entry, marching behind a banner for the USS Utah, which remains sunk in the harbor. Uintah is scheduled to march about two dozen spaces ahead.
"They've done a lot of work to be there," said Uintah High School Vice Principal Cody Reutzel. "We're proud of them and excited that they're able to have that opportunity."
Drum major Bryan Crace said members of Park City High's band have been working to get ready since June. "A lot of us are a tighter than we ever could have been just through high school. ... We all have a sense of unity toward the common goal of producing the most beautiful product that we can."
Isabella Canada, color guard section leader, said this is her first trip to Hawaii.
"It's just really important to me to be able to experience that part of our history, specifically Pearl Harbor, because I had family who was in the Navy during World War II. My great-grandfather was a naval aviator, and my great-uncles were in the Navy and the Air Force."