U.S. Navy—As the nation paused last week to remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, which occurred 75 years ago on Dec. 7, 1941, the occasion had a special meaning for a Pittsburgh native who is serving in the U.S. Navy in the very location that drew the United States into World War II.
Seaman Seanlou Gilmore, a 2014 McKeesport graduate, is assigned to the Navy’s U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters. According to Navy officials, the U.S. Pacific Fleet is the world’s largest fleet command, encompassing 100 million square miles, nearly half the Earth’s surface, from Antarctica to the Arctic circle and from the West Coast of the United States into the Indian Ocean. The U.S. Pacific Fleet consists of approximately 200 ships/submarines, nearly 1,100 aircraft, and more than 140,000 sailors and civilians.
Gilmore is responsible for performing administrative and clerical work that deals with protocol, naval instructions, evaluations, fitness reports, naval messages, telephone calls and mail.
“I like being able to help people,” said Gilmore. “Being the one that people rely on when they need things done and giving back gives me a sense of pride.”
Being stationed in Pearl Harbor, often referred to as the gateway to the Pacific in defense circles, means that Gilmore is serving in a part of the world—the Pacific—that is taking on new importance in America’s national defense strategy.
Pearl Harbor, itself, is home to more than 19,000 U.S. Navy sailors, 11 surface ships, 19 nuclear-powered submarines and 19 aircraft.
Although the world has changed greatly in the past 75 years, the Navy has been pivotal in helping maintain peace and stability in the Pacific region for decades, and for good reason, Navy officials say. The Pacific is home to more than 50 percent of the world’s population, many of the world’s largest and smallest economies, several of the world’s largest militaries and many U.S. allies.
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