Pearl Harbor survivors hold annual meeting

Dec. 7, 1941, is a day Ralph Naslund of  won't soon forget.

The then-23-year-old private first class in the Army Air Corps was stationed in Hawaii and working on his morning shave when the Japanese started bombing Pearl Harbor.

At first, he thought one of the boilers in the mess hall had blown.

But when he saw smoke rising out his window and Japanese Zeros flying by, he realized it was something much more serious.

Naslund survived the attack and went on to fight in the Battle of Midway. He was released from duty as a tech sergeant in 1945.

More than 20 years later, the Beatrice resident helped found Nebraska's Pearl Harbor Survivors Association to help keep the memory of Pearl Harbor alive.

For the group's members, remembering isn't hard, said 89-year-old Naslund, who is now the chairman of the state organization as well as a chapter secretary.

"You go into something like that and you're not going to forget much of it," he said.

Naslund and about 20 members of the Nebraska Pearl Harbor Survivors Association attended the group's annual meeting at the United Veterans Club in Grand Island on Wednesday.

"The mission of this club is to perpetuate the remembrance of Pearl Harbor," said Earl Brandes, president of the Nebraska chapter.

Brandes, who lives in Central City, served in the Marine Corps during World War II and was 20 years old when he experienced the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

Like many other members of the group, Brandes and Naslund said they believe the group's members stand as  witnesses of the importance of being prepared.

"We think there's nothing worse than not being prepared because we know how unprepared we were," Naslund said.

But the group's meetings aren't just a chance to share memories, but also build camaraderie and foster patriotism.

"We're friends," Naslund said. "We have a common bond."

As the years pass, however, the group's numbers have started to dwindle, Naslund said. At its peak in the 1980s, the Nebraska association had more than 140 members and met multiple times per year. Now, they have closer to 25 or 30 and meet just once annually in Grand Island.

"We're a dying breed," said Gilbert Healy of Lincoln, vice president of the association. "It's a sad thing, but there's nothing you can do about it."

The survivors are also becoming more and more difficult to keep track of Naslund said, as he's not always notified when one dies.

"I just hope we can keep this thing going," Naslund said. "We just hang on until there's no more hanging on you can do."

Greg Dunn, a retired lieutenant colonel who served in the Air Force, drove down from Sioux Falls, S.D., to attend the meeting with his father and Pearl Harbor survivor, Robert Dunn.

The survivors association is a treasure trove of memories about Pearl Harbor, Greg Dunn said, and they're united by a common, life-changing experience.

When the original survivors are gone, the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, of which he is a member, will keep their memories alive, Greg Dunn said.

After all, "If you are concerned about this country and about our way of life," it's something the you can't afford to forget, he said.