Group makes sure Pearl Harbor is never forgotten
Annual Highland ceremony champions those who were there during attack
As Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors District 5 Director Jim Laud Sr. was rounding everyone up for lunch Saturday, a text came in.
His son, Andrew Laud, an Army captain, texted his dad that he and 53 other Army captains were sending out their love to Pearl Harbor survivor Jim DeWitt and all the other attendees at the annual National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Memorial Service, held indoors for the first time at Lincoln Center in Highland on Saturday afternoon.
The elder Laud choked up reading it aloud. “Wish he’d have sent this an hour ago when I was up (at the podium),” he said, laughing while wiping away tears. “I get emotional a lot these days.”
Laud, who’s led the Pearl Harbor ceremony for several years, has seen survivors’ ranks dwindle to just one or two survivors making it to Highland each year. DeWitt, who lives in Culver, for example, is 97.
But even if seeing his friends sometimes makes it harder for him, the idea of not championing these men would be exponentially worse.
“So much (about Pearl Harbor) presents itself all the time that you can’t ignore it, or I can’t, anyway,” Laud said.
An article Laud read, “God and the Three Mistakes,” about the errors in judgement the Japanese made on that day as thought of by World War II Admiral Chester Nimitz, was one such example. Someone he didn’t know handed him the article before the ceremony kicked off.
“Mistake number one: The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning, and nine out of
every 10 crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave,” Laud read.
Mistake number two, Laud read, was that the Japanese were so focused on bombing the ships, they forgot about the dry docks, which made it easier for the Americans to repair the ships. The third mistake, according to Nimitz, was that the Japanese also didn’t hit any of the fuel, Laud read.
Whatever the Japanese didn’t accomplish that day, they were still able to shock the country like it had never been. More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack, of which 1,177 died aboard the U.S.S Arizona. Some 300 alone were trapped in water-tight compartments and died up to two weeks later, Laud said.
Two of those men, previously unidentified and buried in a mass grave, were recently identified through DNA, Laud said. One of them, Marley Arthurholtz, who died on the U.S.S. Oklahoma, was laid to rest in Granger Saturday, he said, while a second one, Oris Brandt of Kentland, has funeral services pending.
For Jim DeWitt, who was on the USS Antares when the attack broke out, the bombing didn’t feel real because very few realized it was an honest-to-God attack. The disbelief was so great, in fact, that he believes someone with a higher rank dropped the ball with what they saw.
“We were tugging a craft, and we saw the periscope for one of the Japanese subs following us that morning at 6:10 a.m. We thought someone would’ve called general quarters,” DeWitt said.
DeWitt said he’s never been able to shake the smell of the day, either. His brother, John, was also in the battle but got ill, DeWitt said, and when he went to see John, between the smell of the lingering bombs and the men who suffered burns was something he’ll never forget.
DeWitt’s daughter, Kathy Patrick, also of Culver, doesn’t remember her dad ever talking about the Pearl Harbor attack when she was young. But as long as he can still get around, he won’t turn down the invite to the annual remembrance event.
“He enjoys it,” she said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the PostTribune.