Pearl Harbor Survivors – 70 years later

It was seven decades ago when the paradise island of O’ahu turned into hell, assailed by a surprise attack from the Imperial Japanese Navy. Today, the Department of Veteran Affairs estimates we are losing the WWII generation of military at a rate of approximate 1000 per day. Out of the 16 million that served, only about 2.5 million still grace us with their presence. Those who can say they survived Pearl Harbor’s attack number only around 8000.

It’s taken some time for survivors of that war, and this battle, to open up and speak of their experiences. Most say they had a war to fight, and they just tried to put the experience of this attack behind them. Others may have found the trauma to much to relive. But now they speak more freely, fearing future generations may not remember and that part of history will be lost.

Edward Davis – a 90-year-old Army veteran with Parkinson’s disease – is one of those elite few. Even now, living at D.C.’s Armed Forces Retirement Home, he has vivid recall of that day of infamy, and wonders why he returned home without a scratch when so many were maimed or killed.

Another survivor in the same retirement home, 92 year old Mr. Harris Bircher, had the unique experience of being declared MIA when he was thrown from the USS West Virginia after it was hit by seven torpedoes and three bombs. It wasn’t until was reassigned aboard the USS San Francisco that he found out his hometown, assuming he was dead, had held a funeral for him. “I’m just glad that it wasn’t for real”, he says.

Steve Krawczyk, a member of of the Army Air Corps 22nd Material Squadron, was en route to church when the attack began.

“When the attack came, it was like going 180 degrees from a serene setting to being attacked,” Mr. Krawczyk said.

As he watched a Japanese plane heading right for him, he squeezed underneath a raised sidewalk, fearing the worst. The plane ultimately bombed a target behind him, and he escaped unharmed.

“That was as close as I ever came to being terrified,” he said.

“The thing that carried us through that raid was the fact that the service people we had at that time averaged about 19 years of age,” he said. “And it was the resiliency of youth, you might say, that carried us through that trying period.”

One survivor, Lee Soucy, is on his way to join his Navy shipmates. Mr. Soucy died last year at the age of 90, and it was his final wish to be interred with the shipmates he lost aboard the USS Utah. Fifty-eight of the 461 Utah personnel died when the Florida-class battleship capsized after taking a torpedo hit forward. They were just raising their colors. A Navy diver will descend with his ashes, and place the urn in the porthole of the vessel.

Ms Soucy is only one of five who’s final wishes will be granted at the same time.

The ceremony is one of five memorials being held this week for servicemen who lived through the assault and want their remains placed in Pearl Harbor out of pride and affinity for those they left behind.

“They want to return and be with the shipmates that they lost during the attack,” said Jim Taylor, a retired sailor who coordinates the ceremonies.

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Most of the 12 ships that sank or were beached that day were removed from the harbor, their metal hulls salvaged for scrap. Just the Utah and the USS Arizona still lie in the dark blue waters. Only survivors of those vessels may return in death to their ships.

The cremated remains of Vernon Olsen, who served aboard the Arizona, will be interred on his ship during a sunset ceremony Wednesday. The ashes of three other survivors are being scattered in the harbor.

In 1954, eleven survivors of the attack gathered to remember their fallen comrades and dear friends in Gardena, CA. Like my father had done, organizing an annual reunion of his Army Air Corps fighter squadron, the survivors vowed to make this meeting an annual commemoration. Their alliance led to the founding of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. But just as has happened with my now deceased father’s efforts, the Association will be disbanding at the end of this year. The remaining members are nearing 90, and many with serious health issues that prohibit travel for reunions.

For those with a love and respect of history, I invite you to cyber walk thru the Naval photo gallery of Pearl Harbor.

For interactive history, National Geographic has put together a stellar timeline of the Japanese attack map. If it were embeddable, I would have done so.

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day isn’t a nationally recognized federal holiday. There are no “nearest Monday” days off to make it a convenient long weekend… no BBQs, the mail moves as usual and banks are open. As we lose this greatest generation, I fear we will also lose marking this day with the import in history it has. For most, it’s just another passing day. Yet, in impact, it is that generation’s September 11th… and one more lesson for the US that we are not immune from enemies attacks.

A great blog read…

http://www.bookwormroom.com/2011/12/07/my-mothers-war-courtesy-of-pearl-harbor/”>Bookworm Room, with a story of his mother during WWII.