A handful of centenarian survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor joined about 2,500 members of the public at the scene of the Japanese bombing on Wednesday to commemorate those who were killed 81 years ago.
The audience sat quietly during a moment of silence at 7:55am, the same time the attack began on Dec. 7, 1941.
Sailors aboard the USS Daniel Inouye stood along the rails of the guided missile destroyer while it passed by the grassy shoreline, where the ceremony was held, and the USS Arizona Memorial to honor the survivors and those killed in the attack.
Photo: AP
Ken Stevens, a 100-year-old survivor from the USS Whitney, returned the salute.
“The ever-lasting legacy of Pearl Harbor will be shared at this site for all time, as we must never forget those who came before us so that we can chart a more just and peaceful path for those who follow,” Pearl Harbor National Memorial superintendent Tom Leatherman said.
About 2,400 servicemen were killed in the bombing, which launched the US into World War II. The USS Arizona alone lost 1,177 sailors and marines, nearly half the death toll. Most of the Arizona’s fallen remained entombed in the ship, which sits on the harbor floor.
Ira Schab, 102, was on the USS Dobbin as a tuba player in the ship’s band. He recalls seeing Japanese planes flying overhead and wondering what to do.
“We had no place to go and hoped they’d miss us,” he said before the ceremony began.
He fed ammunition to machine gunners on the vessel, which was not hit.
He has now attended the remembrance ceremony four times.
“I wouldn’t miss it because I got an awful lot of friends that are still here that are buried here. I come back out of respect for them,” he said.
Schab stayed in the US Navy during the war. After the war, he studied aerospace engineering and worked on the Apollo space program. Today he lives in Portland, Oregon.
“Remember what they’re here for. Remember and honor those that are left. They did a hell of a job,” he said.
Only six survivors attended, fewer than the dozen or more who have traveled to Hawaii from across the country for the annual remembrance ceremony in recent years.
Part of the decline reflects the dwindling number of survivors as they age. The youngest active-duty military personnel on Dec. 7, 1941, would have been about 17, making them 98 today.
Herb Elfring, 100, from Jackson, Michigan, said it was great that many members of the public showed interest in the commemoration and attended the ceremony.
“So many people don’t even know where Pearl Harbor is or what happened on that day,” he said.
Elfring was part of the California National Guard and stationed nearby. He remembers hearing bombs explode down the coast at Pearl Harbor, but thought it was part of an exercise.
Then he saw a red ball on the fuselage of a Japanese fighter plane when it strafed the ground alongside him near his barracks at Camp Malakole.
“That was a rude awakening,” he said.
One soldier in his unit was injured by the bullets, but no one died, he said.
Robert John Lee recalls being a 20-year-old civilian living at his parent’s home on the naval base where his father ran a water pumping station. The home was just about 1.6km across the harbor from where the USS Arizona was moored on battleship row.
The first explosions before 8am woke him up, making him think a door was slamming in the wind. He got up to yell for someone to shut the door, only to look out the window at Japanese planes dropping torpedo bombs from the sky.
He saw the hull of the USS Arizona turn a deep orange-red after an aerial bomb hit it.
“Within a few seconds, that explosion then came out with huge tongues of flame right straight up over the ship itself,” Lee said.
Sailors jumped into the water to escape their burning ships and swam to the landing near Lee’s house, he said, adding that many were covered in the thick, heavy oil that coated the harbor.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs does not have statistics for how many Pearl Harbor survivors are still living, but department data show that of the 16 million who served in World War II, only about 240,000 were alive as of August, and about 230 die each day.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese