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Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day brings it all back for Rockland vets

Originally published: December 7, 2012 1:44 PM
Updated: December 7, 2012 2:03 PM
By SARAH ARMAGHAN  sarah.armaghan@cablevision.com

Ben Rouaansky, a WWII veteran, participates in the

Photo credit: Sarah Armaghan | Ben Rouaansky, a WWII veteran, participates in the Veterans Appreciation Breakfast at the Nyack Seaport on Pearl Harbor Day. (Dec. 7, 2012)

Nibbling on a blueberry Danish Friday during a ceremony in Nyack to mark the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, 89-year-old Ben Rouaansky recalled when the news of the bombing reached the U.S. mainland.

He was just 19 years old.

"I was on a skating rink on Long Island when the war broke out," said the soft-spoken Rouaansky. "I had no idea what was about to happen,...

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