Fading witness: Pearl Harbor marks remembrance without survivors

The annual remembrance ceremony for the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor unfolded Sunday without the presence of any survivors — a sobering first for an event long anchored by the men who lived through the bombing that killed more than 2,300 troops and propelled the United States into World War II.

Only 12 survivors remain alive today, all over 100 years old, and none were able to travel to Hawaii this year. For the first time, no one in attendance carried firsthand memories of serving during the attack.

The ceremony opened with a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the exact time the bombs fell on December 7, 1941, followed by the traditional “missing man formation” flyover. In past decades, survivors laid wreaths to honour the dead, but as their numbers diminished, active-duty personnel gradually assumed that responsibility. Sailors also saluted the USS Arizona Memorial as their ships passed the resting place of one of the attack’s most devastating losses.

In 1991, nearly 2,000 survivors attended the 50th anniversary. Their numbers shrank steadily in the years that followed; last year, only two made the trip — a stark decline from the roughly 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu in 1941. Those who did attend in earlier years often mixed laughter and camaraderie with memories of a morning that never left them.

Pearl Harbor’s meaning has always been contested terrain. Historian Emily S. Rosenberg, in A Date Which Will Live: Pearl Harbor in American Memory, notes that some see the attack as a reminder of military vigilance, others as evidence of failures by the Roosevelt administration, and still others as a story of Japanese treachery or American heroism. For many survivors, however, the lesson was straightforward. “Be prepared,” one veteran, Chandler, said. “The intelligence has to be better.”

Lou Conter, the last living USS Arizona survivor, died in 2023 at age 102 but often returned to honour his fallen shipmates. Many families continue that tradition. Heinrichs’ father, a former musician on the USS Dobbin, has visited six times since 2016 — attending not only for himself, but also for his bandmates, his brothers who fought in World War II, and the survivors he knew who are now gone.

As the survivor generation fades, historians and institutions have moved quickly to preserve their voices. Retired National Park Service Pearl Harbor historian Daniel Martinez said the moment resembles the early 20th century, when Civil War veterans were dying in increasing numbers and awareness grew that their memories of Gettysburg and other battles would soon be beyond reach. Martinez anticipated a similar loss with Pearl Harbor survivors and recorded their oral histories, conducting interviews for 12 hours a day across three days during a 1998 convention. The Park Service now holds nearly 800 interviews, most on video. “They remain as part of the national memory of a day that changed America and changed the world,” Martinez said.

The Park Service features some of these testimonies at its Pearl Harbor museum and plans to showcase more after upcoming renovations, said David Kilton, the agency’s interpretation and education lead. The Library of Congress also maintains collections from 535 survivors — interviews, letters, photographs, and diaries — more than 80% available online through the Veterans History Project.

Associated Press