Remembering Another Pearl Harbor Anniversary

December 7, 2019, 78 years after the day that would live on in infamy - the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

 Pearl Harbor Day was the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which was not yet one of the 50 United States.  Japan declared war on the United States shortly after the attack. The United States declared war on Japan the next day, and Germany declared war on the United States three days later.

The official death toll of Pearl Harbor was 2,403.

December 7 is a day meaningful to the generation that preceded mine - the generation that is sometimes called "The Greatest Generation".  In the same way, November 22 is that date for my generation -  the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.  For a newer generation, January 28 is the date the shuttle Challenger exploded not long after liftoff.  There is September 11, 2001. For the people of India, there is what they call "26/11" in their way of writing dates, the terrible Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008.

But the anniversary of Pearl Harbor may not live on for too much longer.  Eyewitnesses to the attack are dying of old age.  When I looked at this in 2017, for example, five survivors of the sinking of the USS Arizona were still alive.  Today, only three are still alive - two died this year.

Overall (apparently) there may be only 11 survivors of the attack, although that depends on how you define who is included.

One of those, Lauren Bruner, was the second to last man to escape the burning Arizona.  He lived to age 98, and passed away in his sleep in September.

Any survivor of the USS Arizona's sinking has the right (as of 1982) to be interred on the wreckage of the ship, which still lies in Pearl Harbor and is visited by upwards of a million people a year.  The same right is granted to the survivors of another ship, the USS Utah.  So far, 44 deceased survivors have been so interred.

Lauren Bruner will be the last man interred on the Arizona, as the three remaining survivors plan different final resting places.  His ashes will be placed by divers inside the wreckage later today in a sunset ceremony.

Another survivor of Pearl Harbor, Joseph Iscovitz, died in June at the age of 103.

Others of the Greatest Generation leave us daily.  This year, this included:
John "Jack" Lyle, one of the decorated African-American Tuskogee Airmen, at the age of 98.
Dick Churchhill, the last of the survivors of the "Great Escape", in February, at age 99 (no, he wasn't related to Winston Churchill). 
Richard Cole, last of the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Japan four months after Pearl Harbor in a daring raid that raised American morale, in April, at age 103.

To all the men and women who served in World War II, we remember your service today.