Pearl Harbor survivors receive heroes’ welcome

Nearly 30 Pearl Harbor survivors took an emotional boat cruise into history Monday, returning to the scene where they witnessed death and carnage 75 years ago.

The survivors were joined at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center by other World War II veterans, guests and family members for a special tour as part of the events surrounding the 75th anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The old warriors, most of them wheelchair-bound or clutching canes and walkers, were treated like stars as they arrived via private bus Monday afternoon.

As they slowly emerged from the bus, they were greeted with applause, handshakes, hugs and kisses, autograph seekers and photographers.

An afternoon reception featured a serenading trio of female performers who sang the 1940s and 1950s tunes of the Andrews Sisters, McGuire Sisters and Chordettes.

Three of the survivors agreed to talk to a throng of media.

Stuart Hedley, 95, a seaman on the battleship USS West Virginia, was asked what he was thinking as he returned to the scene where more than 2,000 servicemen died in action on Dec. 7, 1941.

“The thing that goes through my mind is the thousands of families that lost their loved ones, that woke up the next day without their husbands, and the children who never knew their dad. It’s sort of a sad situation,” he said, choking with emotion.

“But the whole idea is that we’re here to keep the remembrance of what happened that day, so it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Michael “Mickey” Ganitch, 97, was aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania, which was in dry dock on Dec. 7 but still endured plenty of damage.

Ganitch said that when he returns to Pearl Harbor, he always looks for the spot where his ship was in dry dock.

“Then I think about the 23 men who died that day (on the Pennsylvania), some of them I personally knew,” he said.

“It happened,” Ganitch added. “We thought it could not happen there, but it did happen there, and we had to do something about it, and we did do something about it.”

Jack Holder was a 19-year-old naval flight engineer stationed on Ford Island when the hangar next door was suddenly ripped apart by a bomb, the first one dropped on Ford Island.

Fortunately, he said, it was an empty hangar because the crew was away training in the Philippines.

“Then we looked up in the sky and saw all these aircraft circling with the Rising Sun insignia. It was disbelief, fear, anger,” he remembered.

Holder said he and some others jumped into a ditch for cover, as bullets missed him by 3 feet.

“I was thinking, ‘God please don’t let me die,’” he said. “Then I came out and seen all of our aircraft on fire and seen ships sinking. I seen the Arizona, the West Virginia, Tennessee, Utah and California in flames.”

The Arizona resident said he finds returning to Pearl a healing experience.

“When I see my hangar at Ford Island, I remember the whole thing. It comes alive and I’ll never forget it,” he said.

During the afternoon reception, admirers approached the veterans to express words of thanks.

“Thank you so much for your service,” Suki Stone told the men. “It makes me really honor you because I have the freedoms I have. I am greatly indebted to your bravery.”

Stone, 69, of San Diego, said it was her first visit to the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument.

“It just overtook me emotionally,” she said.