(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Participants in Sunday's Pearl Harbor Memorial Service on Nashua's Main Street Bridge fire a three-rifle volley in memory of those who lost their lives 81 years ago this Wednesday.

NASHUA — The air was crisp, the breeze had a bit of a bite and a bright, early sun cast sharp shadows of men and women upon the brick and cement sidewalk between Bicentennial Park and the Main Street Bridge Sunday morning.

The scene was Nashua’s annual observance of the Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor, a day that continues to live in infamy among generations of Americans, many of whom take part in memorial services across the land.

Representatives of Nashua’s military organizations observe the event with a ceremony each year on the closest Sunday to Dec. 7, which was a Sunday morning in 1941, some 81 years ago this Wednesday.

Well-known Nashuan Dick Mohrmann, a World War II veteran now in his mid-90s, took part in the service, as he has done for decades.

He and Disabled American Veterans Chapter 7 Commander Paul Boore teamed up to launch the ceremonial wreath into the water — in this case, the Nashua River — in memory of those soldiers and sailors who died at sea, not just on Dec. 7, 1941, but in all wars.

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Lew Chipola, right, past Nashua and state Veterans of Foreign Wars commander, opens Sunday's Pearl Harbor Memorial Service with a prayer as Mayor Jim Donchess, left, and Barney Barbera, an officer of the James E. Coffey Post 3, American Legion, listen. Wednesday marks the 81st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

A three-volley salute was fired, followed by the playing of Taps.

Lew Chipola, past Nashua and state Veterans of Foreign Wars commander, led participants in prayer at the outset of the service.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Prominent Nashua veterans Barney Barbera, right, and Dick Mohrmann chat with past Nashua Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 483 commander Frank Sousa before the start of Sunday's Pearl Harbor Memorial Service.

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Nashua Disabled American Veterans Chapter 7 Commander Paul Boore, right, and Dick Mohrmann, a World War II veteran and high-ranking Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 483 member, conduct the symbolic tossing of the wreath into the Nashua River during Sunday's Pearl Harbor Memorial service. Wednesday marks the 81st anniversary of the Japanese attack upon Pearl Harbor.

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