None of the 12 remaining US military survivors of Pearl Harbor — all over age 100 — able to attend annual memorial
Story by Ronny Reyes • 10h
None of the 12 surviving US military members from the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor — all of whom are more than 100 years old — were able to attend this year’s ceremony in Hawaii.
It’s part of a sorrowful trend that has seen fewer and fewer survivors able to come out to memorialize the day that lives in infamy, with this year being the first to see no survivor showing up, not counting in 2020 during COVID, when there was no public ceremony.
105-year-old Ira “Ike” Schab (center, sitting) had to cancel plans to fly in from Oregon after falling ill.
“The idea of not having a survivor there for the first time — I just, I don’t know — it hurt my heart in a way I can’t describe,” said Kimberlee Heinrichs, whose 105-year-old father Ira “Ike” Schab had to cancel plans to fly in from Oregon after falling ill.
An estimated 87,000 troops were stationed on Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941, when the American naval base was attacked by Japanese kamikaze planes, killing more than 2,300 soldiers and flinging the US into World War II.
During the 50th anniversary of the attack in 1991, about 2,000 survivors reunited to pay their respect to their fallen comrades.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/none-of-the-12-remaining-us-military-survivors-of-pearl-harbor-all-over-age-100-able-to-attend-annual-memorial/ar-AA1RTWGi?ocid=widgetonlockscreen&cvid=6936a7a10e6343a8a6a442c1e99a084d&ei=115
