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Hill Air Force Base • Formed just a few days before the Pearl Harbor attack, the Civil Air Patrol is still going strong, providing search-and-rescue services and training youth about aviation.

On Sunday, the Utah wing of the Civil Air Patrol — the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force — marked the 70th anniversary of the organization's establishment with a memorial service at Hill Aerospace Museum Chapel. Keynote speaker Robert C. Oaks, a retired Air Force general, praised the group for its values and the sacrifices its members have made.

"It's community service at its very best," said Oaks, who also has been a senior vice president for US Airways and a general authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Civil Air Patrol, formed on Dec. 1, 1941, flew more than 500,000 hours protecting U.S. coastlines and shipping lanes from submarine attack, according to the auxiliary. Today its members conduct search-and-rescue missions; assist in emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, lost aircraft and the recent Gulf oil spill; and offer a leadership and aviation program for youth ages 12 to 18.

In his talk to about 70 people who attended the program at Hill, Oaks focused on the Civil Air Patrol's core values of integrity, volunteer service, excellence and respect. He said people used to be eager to serve but that is no longer true today.

"Unfortunately, the core values of the world have been in steady decline," Oaks said.

Young people in particular have not been given the tools to build a strong moral foundation, he said. He blamed the decline on too many people no longer attending church and on a "misunderstanding" about the separation of church and state that blocks schools from teaching moral values.

"Integrity is the cornerstone of all that is moral and just in our society," Oaks said.

The memorial service included readings from the Old Testament and New Testament and the posting of the colors by members of a Civil Air Patrol cadet squadron.

Cadet Broc Hoggan, an eighth-grader at Mount Logan Middle School, said he joined the group after visiting an Army recruiting station to learn more about the service. An enlistee there urged him to check out the Civil Air Patrol, the 14-year-old said.

Now Broc, whose two grandfathers were in the Army, has his eye on a military career.

"It's really fun," he said of his service with the Civil Air Patrol. "I want to be an Army paratrooper."

pmanson@sltrib.com Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC