Pearl Harbor USS Arizona survivor/veteran at the park today!

[CAspace]

While standing in the 2.5+ hour line for Finding Nemo today I had the great honor of meeting a Pearl Harbor USS Arizona veteran! That made waiting in the line worth every second! Just thought some of you might appreciate that!
No pictures unfortunately I was alone and did not have a camera. Considering there were not many survivors from the USS Arizona and the fact that the remaining survivors are very old at this point, it was a pretty special experience to be in the presence of a real hero. We hear so much crap about all these Hollywood and sports people, but this gentlemen and the other Veterans of the armed forces are the real hero's in my opinion.
Anyways thanks for listening! It was a amazing experience!

[Wendygirl]

Thank you for posting about your experience. That was a real honor for you. And God bless our veterans!

[knittingknerd]

I got all excited by this. Was this man with his family?

We/my family is totally overwhelmed with Pearl Harbor stuff right now. We got our seeing eye dog training puppy who was sponsored by the men and women on the USS Pearl Harbor (the pup's name is Pearl), which is named after the men that served and defended the Harbor post attack. So my mom was on the phone with the lady from Guide Dogs of the Desert and she was telling my mom all this stuff and my mom just stood there and was like "My father in law was that..." So when G.D.o.D. lady told the PR person for the ship she cried. We have a ton of USS Pearl Harbor stuff, along with letters Grandpa wrote to Grandma while serving. It's a small world.

[lil lisa]

Our heroic WW2 veterans are dying at a rate of 1200 a day. And I believe we even have 3 veterans of WW1 that are still alive and well into their 100's!

I really gained an appreciation for them when doing genealogy research on a great uncle that died off the Phillippean coast when his ship was hit by a kamikazi during that war. Most of the men on the ship survived, but my uncle died trying to rescue men trapped below. I had the honor and priviledge of exchanging letters, pictures and even a few phone calls with the 3 remaining survivors of that ship and the widow of the man my uncle died trying to save. It was a humbling experience. The men/boys on that ship were in their teens and early 20's. My uncle was 19. A nearby ship took pictures of my uncle's ship going down and you can see the men jumping off of the ship, trying to save their lives. Incredible.

CAspace, I'm so glad you are appreciative of the opportunity you had in meeting him. Of the few surviving veterans we have, many are now getting too old to travel much. I'm glad he was able to enjoy a day at Disneyland. As Wendygirl said, God Bless our Veterans!

[techskip]

With every passing day there are fewer and fewer left who fought and survived WW2. For me meeting any of them is an honor. I was fortunate to meet a variety of people while employed at the park. The list includes individuals from Iwo Jima, The Bataan Death March, D-Day, a pilot downed over Germany, and Holocaust Survivors. Each story is unique in it humbleness, heroism, and sacrifice.

[k_peek_2000]

Awesome story, I love army veterans but not like that. My dad was a Veteran and he is always telling me about his stories and I love them. Even though I don't plan on joining the Armed forces. Great story, glad to see he was at Disneyland!!

[IndianaJenn]

Thank you for sharing this. I would have loved to have met him.

My great uncle was one of the men killed aboard the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor.

[CAspace]

I got all excited by this. Was this man with his family?
...........

Hi! The gentlemen was with his family in line. He had a blue polo T-shirt on that said Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Veteran. I was really bummed that I did not remember that there was going to be the "Extended" Flag Lowering ceremony at 4:30 on that day, because later in the day I remembered the Flag Ceremony was happening and thankfully made it although I could not stop beating myself up for not mentioning it! The ceremony was very special with about 10 veterans in attendance, it would have really been extra special for everyone to be graced with the presence of the USS Arizona Veteran but oh well, I dropped the ball on mentioning it to him. In fact I did have the opportunity to tell one of the Veteran cast members who was at the flag lowering and he was really touched just by knowing that one of the USS Arizona veterans was at the park that day!

[SummerInFL]

What a wonderful experience!

My father was a Korean War vet and he didn't talk about it much but when he did you would think it was something out of a movie.

Go Veterans!

[SusieP.]

What a great moment, and thank you for recognizing the significance. My grandpa is a WW2 vet and was just off shore at Iwo Jima on his LST ship. He's been going to yearly reunions, but I don't think he's gonna make it to any more, unfortunately. It's amazing to see the pictures and hear the stories. It's nice to know that people still want to listen.

[CAspace]

When the day comes again that the youth of today realizes that these Veterans are the true American Hero's., Not some overpaid athletes or movie "stars" and there (mostly) drug addicted kids. One day in my dreams I envision kids running up to these hero's seeking there autographs like they would if they saw any other celebrity.
I actually did see it this past year at the Toling of the bells memorial on Memorial Day at seal beach, there were a number of kids getting autographs from the submarine veterans, that was a wonderful site, perhaps there is hope for these newer generation of kids, the (Mine) generation or perhaps the (Me) generation (ala the seagulls from Nemo, Mine Mine mine mine, me me me me) I know am probably being a bit to hard on the youngsters, I am sure there are tons of great kids out there hiding And of course it is passed down from the parents and society (AKA Television/Media) so we cant blame the youth
I digress, sorry Back to the vets!

[#1Goofy]

That was a great story, it's always great to hear about a true "hero" even though these vets would be the last to say that they are. My grandfather was shipped into Pearl Harbor a couple of days before the attack and spent the next couple of weeks on body recovery and burial detail, it effected him to his dying days. He never spoke of it and I didn't find out all this till after he died, when I got the family bible and it was all written in there. So always be thankful to the men and women of our armed services who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect what we have in this country, no matter how degraded some of these "people" act to put them down and say the stupid things they do, that is what freedom is about. So if you see a vet, walk up, shake his hand and thank him for standing up for this wonderful country we live in...... ( I'm off my soapbox)

[CAspace]

That was a great story, it's always great to hear about a true "hero" even though these vets would be the last to say that they are. My grandfather was shipped into Pearl Harbor a couple of days before the attack and spent the next couple of weeks on body recovery and burial detail, it effected him to his dying days. He never spoke of it and I didn't find out all this till after he died, when I got the family bible and it was all written in there. So always be thankful to the men and women of our armed services who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect what we have in this country, no matter how degraded some of these "people" act to put them down and say the stupid things they do, that is what freedom is about. So if you see a vet, walk up, shake his hand and thank him for standing up for this wonderful country we live in...... ( I'm off my soapbox)

Wow. That was amazing.

[lil lisa]

All of their stories were incredible. We tend to think mostly about Pearl Harbor these days, since the movie came out, and since we have memorials for them on US soil. But so many lost their lives far from home and their stories have been lost or forgotten. I started doing my research about my great uncle, because every body in the family knew he'd died a hero, but nobody knew why. Nobody knew any details of his life or his death and the only family members that could have answered those questions were dead.

One of the vets I wrote to, who served with my uncle, told me how he'd been below decks when their ship was hit, and he was one of the few below decks people to survive. Both of his legs were broken in the blast, and he couldn't walk up the stairs to get out of the ship as it sank. So he prayed, and he waited for the room he was in to fill up with water. He had to time it just right, in order not to drown. When the room was full enough, he floated/swam out of the hole in the ship, made when the kamikazi struck. He floated out of the hole, then swam to the surface and was rescued by his shipmates. He was 18 years old at the time.

Incredible.

There is a floating memorial in the Phillippean ocean, dedicated to the US servicemen who served and died there.

[Ironchefspam]

I too am touched by this. During my tenure as a CM, I've met all variety of veterans from individuals that served at Corregidor, Pearl, Midway, Nam, Korea, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Nicaragua, Cambodia, among other places. Among them there are a few that stand out in my mind:

- a Purple Heart recipient from WWII
- a Bronze Star recipient from WWII
- a Distinguished Flying Cross from WWII

I made it a point to make the attempt to talk to every veteran I came across. As a "medically disqualified Marine recruit," it is truly an honor to be able to thank those that served this country with distinction and honor and to thank those that fell in the act of service to our country in order that my freedoms be kept.