o The national Pearl Harbor Survivors Association will disband at the end of the year. The Pacific Northwest Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors will continue Vancouver’s annual Dec. 7 commemorations.
Members of the Vancouver chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association (not all attended Wednesday’s event), plus three Portland-area survivors who attended the commemoration:
o Larry Lydon, USS San Francisco.
o Joseph Bailey, USS Whitney.
o George Bennett, Ford Island.
o John Bruening, Schofield Barracks.
o Bernard DeGrave, USS Montgomery.
o Gebhard Galle, USS Nevada.
o Paul Johnson, USS Castor.
o Marvin Kaufmann, USS Whitney.
o Harold Lacy, USS Tennessee.
o John Leach, USS California.
o Don Raymond, USS Sunnadin.
o Ralph Laedtke, USS Solace.
o G.R. Hatton, USS Worden.
o Ed Cogan, Hickham Field.
o Gene Cole, Bellows Field.
o Albert Montague, submarine base.
Some of them realized our nation was at war when machine gun bullets started buzzing around them.
A few sailors knew something was wrong when their ships shuddered; in one case, the jolt was strong enough to knock breakfast off the table.