From textbooks to Hawaii: Yuma Young Marines raise money to visit Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor 78th Anniversary

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - December 7th marks the 78th anniversary of the attack on the island of Oahu.

To commemorate Pearl Harbor remembrance, the Yuma Young Marines are taking off to Hawaii for a week-long educational trip.

The community played a major role in supporting this organization by donating $4,500 to sponsor their upcoming trip.

The Yuma Young Marines are kids who want a challenge, an adventure, and are excited to become leaders in their community.

For more than two decades, Eleanor Sayles has been strengthening the lives of Yuma's youth through the program.

Sayles is a retired marine who is now committed to teaching her young marines the values of leadership and discipline.

The program also emphasizes a drug-free lifestyle, something all too familiar to the Yuma community.

Sayles said, “We'd rather guide them through their teenage years and rough patches than for them to go off and do their own thing.”

While learning about Pearl Harbor, the children decided they would like to take history beyond the pages of books and experience it for themselves.

“I wanted them to learn the history of those who sacrificed for us and for our freedom,” Sayles said.

The group will spend a week in Hawaii touring the U.S.S. Arizona, the Pearl Harbor Museum, participate in a beach clean up and march in the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Parade as a young marine unit.

"That's going to be a memory to hold forever,” Sayles said.

The group even painted rocks to take with them to leave their mark on the island.

Tuesday morning, the Yuma Young Marines will leave for San Diego to board a flight to Hawaii.

The American Legion Post 19 will host its annual Pearl Harbor ceremony and breakfast on December 7th at 9 am.