Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Pearl Harbor Survivor Remembered-- Part 1

And there certainly will be a lot of that as we get near tomorrow, the 70th anniversary of the "Day of Infamy."

From the Peoria (Il) Journal Star "Luciano: Pearl Harbor survivor wanted others to remember" by James Luciano.

Finch Stowell remembers the final twelve minutes of the USS Oklahoma when he and others rushed to rescue shipmates. Many died inside the ship as it capsized.

Mr. Stowell died last summer at age 91, something that is happening to more and more Pearl Harbor survivors and World War II veterans as well.

Of 60,000 survivors of the attack, only some 3,000 are alive now.

Stowell had just turned 22 four days before the attack. He had not planned on being a sailor. Raised on a farm outside Peoria, his family ad wanted him to go to college, but the Depression was on and they couldn't afford the tuition.

He couldn't find any regular job in two years after high school, so did what many did, joined the military. In Stowell's case, he enlisted in the Navy in 1939.

More to Come. --Cooter

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