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Featured Article: Pearl Harbor – Never Forget

Recently, we observed National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, marking 80 years since the date that, as FDR predicted, has lived in infamy. More than 2,400 Americans, including civilians, perished in the attack on Pearl Harbor and many military assets were lost. For those who were there and survived to tell their story, that day has lived on in a much different way. I had the distinct honor to meet, spend time with, and befriend 13 of those survivors. Those true patriots, members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Tidewater Chapter, worked to ensure that the memory of those killed and injured in the attacks endured. As members of the Navy community, it is the duty of all of us to ensure their simple creed lives on: Pearl Harbor – Never Forget.

In my final duty station in the Navy, I served as the Commanding Officer of Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek – Fort Story. The base features a monument to Pearl Harbor survivors and each year on December 7 at 12:55 PM a ceremony is held there to honor those who survived and those who were killed in the attacks. As CO of the base, I helped oversee organization of the ceremony. It was one of my life’s greatest honors, in uniform or out, to be a part of such an important event.

Through that event I got to know and befriended many members of the Tidewater Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors. These were incredible men who, despite the nightmare they had lived through, always kept an upbeat, positive spirit about themselves. These patriots had lived through the Great Depression and witnessed not only a harrowing attack on American soil but the mass destruction of a World War. After that, there really was not much that could shake them.

In January 2008, members of the Tidewater Chapter invited me to attend the Tidewater Chapter’s Pearl Harbor Survivors monthly meeting. The meeting opened with a prayer and, after a shot of Irish whisky with the President, Frank Chebetar, the meeting continued with a ceremony inducting me as an Honorary Member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. They took me by complete surprise bestowing on me that honor and making me only the 2nd Honorary Member, alongside a retired Navy Warrant Officer and SEAL named Troy Scroggins.

Since then, I have remained close with the Tidewater Chapter Survivors and their families. Many of them attended my retirement ceremony from the Navy. Talk about dancers! They could jitterbug with the best of them. They were deeply involved in traveling to schools, doing outreach, and ensuring the memory of that fateful day is never lost.

There is no describing what it is like to know and speak with such incredible people. They often told their stories and always admitted their terror that day, saying, “If anyone who was there says they weren’t scared, they’re lying.” They always insisted that they weren’t heroes, that they just did what they had to do, but I disagree. I think they’re heroes of the highest order.

This year will mark the first where only the families of the remaining survivors will have attended the in-person ceremony at the monument on Little Creek. The last survivor of the Tidewater Chapter passed away last year in 2020, which was the first time it had not been held due to the Covid Pandemic.

Although they’re no longer with us, it seemed fitting to provide this small tribute to those great men by continuing to spread the message that they fought to preserve.

Pearl Harbor – Never Forget.

 

Tidewater Pearl Harbor Survivors

USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor Survivors, Tidewater Chapter

Tidewater Pearl Harbor Survivors

Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter 2. Tidewater

Left to Right: 

Paul Moore, USS West Virginia BB48
John Korba, USS West Virginia BB48
Ernest Davenport, NAS Kaneaha
Robert Brunner, Mobil Unit
Frank Maloney, USS Phelps DD360
Ray Baer, Ford Island UP-22
John Delia, Ford Island Boat House
Oscar Garland, USS Medusa AR-1
William H. Muehleib, 18th Pursuit Sq., Wheeler Field
Lester Silva, USS Detriot CL-8
Edward Hoosack, 19th m-GS Truck, Wheeler Field
William Temple, 19th Pursuit Sq., Wheeler Field
Frank Chebetar, USS Phelps DD360

About the Author

Bill Crow has served as President of the Virginia Ship Repair Association since 2012. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1980, Bill served 30 years in uniform, retiring as a Captain in 2010. He completed his 30 years of military service as the last Commanding Officer of Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and was the first Commanding Officer of Joint Expeditionary Base, Little Creek-Fort Story. In 2008, Bill was installed as an Honorary Member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.


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