George Keene, 98, died last week, the last member of Pearl Harbor Survivor Association, San Fernando Valley chapter.
They loved those white, sharp-looking Pearl Harbor Survivor caps they wore whenever they went out in public. Their badge of honor. They didn’t need to say a word as they walked down the street or sat in a restaurant together for their monthly meeting.People know freedom isn’t free. Someone’s got to pay for it. These are the guys who made a huge down payment 81 years ago today, on a date that President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised would live in infamy — and it has.
The enemy left Pearl Harbor for dead that morning. Big mistake. The survivors got up off the deck and picked up that big stick. We weren’t walking softly anymore. Bill Aupperlee had the Irish gift of gab. He could make an undertaker laugh, which he actually did at his own funeral. One by one, the last handful of members left from the local chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association got up to tell their favorite Aupperlee story, which always ended with a laugh.
George Keene was the last active member of the association. He died last year at 98. His granddaughter, Lisa Lunny, sent me a heartfelt note to let me know he had passed. Some school principals didn’t want veterans to come talk to the kids, as if you could sweep Pearl Harbor under the rug. Ray pushed back. You can’t hide war from kids, he argued. It’s non-negotiable. He lost too many buddies that morning at Pearl Harbor to just stay silent.
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Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day: A look back at December 7, 1941The American naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, leading to thousands of lives lost.
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Hawaii remembrance to draw handful of Pearl Harbor survivorsA handful of centenarian survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor are expected to gather at the scene in Hawaii to commemorate those who perished 81 years ago in the Japanese bombing
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