For his first Memorial Day speech as Edmonds mayor, Dave Earling spoke about the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, but a story closer to home was also on his mind: the death last week of 25-year-old Second Lt. Travis Murgado, a former Edmonds man, in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan.

The surprise Pearl Harbor attack shortly after 8 a.m. “was devastatingly effective,” Earling said during the annual ceremony at Edmonds Memorial Cemetery. “In less than an hour, five of the eight battle ships in the harbor were sunk or sinking, the other three badly damaged. Most of the Hawaii-based combat aircraft had been destroyed and over 2,400 Americans lay dead.”

Earling went on to describe some of the many acts of heroism in the hours following Pearl Harbor, and noted that those same noble heroics were demonstrated among those responding to the terrorist attacks on American soil: “This is the way we are and this is the way we shall always be: Americans who take care of our own,” Earling said.

The death of Murgado, a Meadowdale High School and University of Washington graduate, brought this message home, Earling said. Murgado entered officer’s candidate school after graduating from college rather than immediately pursue a career “because, as his mother said, he wanted to give back to his country, ” Earling added.

“His mother live in Edmonds; his father in California. He has a wonderful extended family and they are all terribly proud of him and love him dearly,” the mayor said.

Another take on Pearl Harbor was provided by EWHS senior Blaise Lamb, who read from local Navy Veteran Ervin Schmidt’s account of serving on the battleship USS California when the Japanese attack occurred. The 96-year-old Schmidt sat behind Lamb as he read the account, often nodding and smiling during the speech.

In his account, Schmidt noted that he enlisted in the Navy shortly after completing barber college since he wasn’t finding work, figuring the military would offer a steady paycheck. The USS California had recently docked in Hawaii, and Schmidt and a buddy were getting ready for church when the Japanese struck. The buddy died instantly; Schmidt and other shipmates were overcome by smoke and fumes but were saved when other crew members guided them out to fresh air.

In the confusion following the surprise attack, family members were “notified that I was killed in action,” Schmidt wrote, adding — to audience laughter — “I later learned that my family held quite a swell funeral for me at our local church.”

He remained at Pearl Harbor and was reassigned to the USS Chicago. “About this time my family was notified that I had survived and was aboard a new vessel,” he said.

Schmidt was on board the USS Chicago when it participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea, a major turning point in the war in the Pacific. He described being under attack by air and sea numerous times while serving in the Pacific, and noted that he eventually decided to switch to submarine duty: “I thought it had to be safer under the water,” he wrote, to more audience laughter.

Also honored during the annual Memorial Day service were the Girl Scouts of America and their 100th anniversary, with Earling reading an abbreviated version of a proclamation that was presented during a recent Edmonds City Council meeting. Of special note was the Girl Scouts’ long-time support of the military, most recently with Operation Cookie Drop, during which the Girl Scouts of Western Washington donated more than 127,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to troops overseas in 2012.

In addition, EWHS senior Katrina Nguyen read from her award-winning Veterans of Foreign Wars essay, which she crafted after talking with several veterans from past wars. “These soldiers have seen limbs blown apart and bodies thrown about amidst rapid gunfire and warfare,” Nguyen said. “With each life lost, it’s the loss of a caring father, an optimistic Boy Scout, a quiet sister, a beloved American. Yet amongst this loss is pride. Our nation takes pride in honoring our heroes.”

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