Somers Point will hold a Pearl Harbor Wreath Service on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 1 p.m. at the Somers Point Beach at Bay and New Jersey avenues.
“While the placing of the wreath in our bay waters is normally done at our Pearl Harbor Service, that ceremony was moved indoors due to the weather this past Sunday,” Mayor Jack Glasser explained.
The placing of the wreath honors those Americans who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941, during the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Immediately following the Wreath Service, those assembled are invited to take the short walk to the corner of Gibbs and Bay avenues for a special dedication in memory of Somers Point’s only Medal of Honor recipient, the late Oscar Schmidt, Jr. Schmidt was a Navy sailor who served as a chief gunner’s mate on the USS Chestnut Hill during World War I.
According to Tom Innocenti, a member of Somers Point’s American Legion Post 352, Schmidt is one of only 24 Navy personnel who earned a Navy Medal of Honor during World War I. He was honored for rescuing sailors from a burning ship.
