In April of this year, we took a phone call with Tim Davis, the president of The Greatest Generations Foundation, a charity dedicated to bringing WWII veterans back to their battlefields. Tim told us that fourteen Pearl Harbor veterans had signed up for the trip and he was wondering if we might sponsor a few of them (ages 91-102) so they could return for the 73rd Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. We said we would sponsor them all. This is the story of 14 Survivors…
We’re deep into the flight to Hawaii. Many of the passengers doze as the 767 chases the sunset speeding west. A curious young child, probably 6 years old, ambles down the aisle. He stops at an old man nodding off under his reading light. The man is wearing a white cap that reads Pearl Harbor Survivor ’41. The child reaches out and touches his wrist,
“My dad says you fought in a war?”
The man perks up and puts his book down, “Is that so? Well I suppose your dad is right.”
“We’re going to visit my dad’s sister in Oahu (he pronounces it Oh-Ha-Hoo). Do you live in Hawaii, Mr.?”
“I don’t, son.”
“Do you have family there?”
“My family is in California.”
“Do you have friends there?”
The man’s gaze turns up, he looks off to a place somewhere beyond the child, beyond the plane.
“Many. I have many friends there.”
The Captain announces we’ve begun our initial decent into Honalulu.
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