Pearl Harbor survivor Ira Schab returned to Pearl Harbor 82 years after Japan's bombing. He was one of just six survivors at the remembrance ceremony for the more than 2,300 servicemen killed on Dec. 7, 1941:
From left, Pearl Harbor survivors Harry Chandler, Ken Stevens, Herb Elfring and Ira "Ike" Schab during the 82nd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony on Dec. 7. (Mengshin Lin/AP)
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https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2023-12-07/pearl-harbor-survivors-return-12282812.htmlThe U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't keep statistics for how many Pearl Harbor survivors are still living. But department data show that of the 16 million who served in World War II, only about 120,000 were alive as of October and an estimated 131 die each day.
Schab never spoke much about Pearl Harbor until about a decade ago. He's since been sharing his story with his family, student groups and history buffs. And he's returned to Pearl Harbor several times since.
The reason? "To pay honor to the guys that didn't make it," he said
Harry Chandler, 102, recalled raising the flag at a mobile hospital in Aiea Heights in the hills above Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was a was a Navy hospital corpsman 3rd Class at the time.
"I look out there and I can still see what's going on. I can still see what was happening," said Chandler, who today lives in Tequesta, Florida.
Marine Corps. Capt. Daniel Hower, the 29-year-old grand-nephew of Conter, the last remaining USS Arizona survivor, delivered the keynote address,