None of the 12 living U.S. military personnel who survived the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor—every one of them past 100 years of age—could attend this year’s ceremony in Hawaii. This marks the first time the memorial has gone through without a single survivor present (aside from 2020 when the COVID pandemic prevented a public event). The absence has left many feeling a deep, indescribable ache, as Kimberlee Heinrichs explained; her 105‑year‑old father, Ira “Ike” Schab, had planned a trip from Oregon but was forced to cancel after falling ill. Dec. 7, 1941, saw roughly 87,000 American troops on Oahu when the naval base was struck by Japanese kamikaze planes, resulting in over 2,300 fatalities and sending the United States into World War II. At the 50th‑anniversary commemoration in 1991, roughly 2,000 survivors gathered to honor those who had fallen. Last year, only two survivors, including Schab, managed to travel to Honolulu. Schab recalled to the Associated Press, “I was honored to do it. I’m glad I was capable of standing up. I’m getting old, you know.” This past year, Vaughn P. Drake Jr., who had been the oldest named survivor, passed away at 106. To preserve their accounts, tapes have been recorded—much like those collected for Civil War and World War I veterans—and many of these interviews, along with letters, photographs, and diaries from 535 survivors, can be accessed online through the Library of Congress and the official Pearl Harbor museum. The Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, a nationwide organization, continues to share the harrowing stories of their relatives and asserts that, “When they’re all gone, we’re still going to be here.” Their mission is to keep the memory of that fateful day alive for as long as they themselves may remain.
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