the saddest thing about today's Pearl Harbor Anniversary parade in Waikiki -

[msongs]

every ship damaged or sunk in the attack has a large banner. behind each banner are survivors who were stationed on that ship Dec 7, 1941. Each year the number of survivors declines and now most of those banners have no survivors at all.

[dflprincess]

1. This article in today's Star Tribune was sad

The headline is a little misleading. There are 3 survivors of the Arizona's crew still with us, but they all plan to be buried with family.

http://www.startribune.com/pearl-harbor-vet-s-interment-to-be-last-on-sunken-arizona/565874172/

Pearl Harbor vet's interment to be last on sunken Arizona

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — On Dec. 7, 1941, then-21-year-old Lauren Bruner was the second-to-last man to escape the burning wreckage of the USS Arizona after a Japanese plane dropped a bomb that ignited an enormous explosion in the battleship’s ammunition storage compartment.

He lived to be 98 years old, marrying twice and outliving both wives. He worked for a refrigeration company for nearly four decades.

This weekend, divers will place Bruner’s ashes inside the battleship’s wreckage, which sits in Pearl Harbor where it sank during the attack 78 years ago that thrust the United States into World War II. The Southern California man will be the 44th and last crew member to be interred in accordance with this rare Navy ritual. The last three living Arizona survivors plan to be laid to rest with their families....

...Bruner said he wanted to return to his ship because few people go to cemeteries, while more than 1 million people visit the Arizona each year. He also saw it as a way to join old friends who never made it off the warship.

“I thought, well, all my buddies are right here. And there are a lot of people who come to see the ship,” Bruner told The Associated Press in an interview in 2016, three years before he died in his sleep in September. Bruner traveled from his La Mirada, California, home to attend Pearl Harbor anniversary events many times.

The Navy began interring Pearl Harbor survivors on their old ships in 1982. The wrecks of only two vessels remain in the harbor — the Arizona and USS Utah — so survivors of those ships are the only ones who have the option to be laid to rest this way. Most of the ships hit that day were repaired and put back into service or scrapped.

[Niagara]

2. ...

[Haggis for Breakfast]

3. This old Sailor must respectfully disagree with you.

The SADDEST thing is that the Commander-in-Chief couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge Pearl Harbor Day - you didn't hear a peep from the WH today. NOT ONE FUCKING WORD.

Fewer and fewer young people understand the history behind or the significance of "The Day of Infamy" or what it meant to the US, and especially to the NAVY.

THAT is the SADDEST thing of all.

[2naSalit]

4. +1