Pearl Harbor attack
Honoring those who fought in World War II, the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis will host its 20th annual Pearl Harbor Survivor Dinner on Sunday.
The dinner begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10, at the museum. Tickets are on sale now for $25 each, and space is limited to 150 people. The Napavine Jazz Band will perform big band classics from the era. Each World War II veteran in attendance will be individually honored at the dinner.
Museum Director Chip Duncan said no Pearl Harbor survivors are expected to be at the dinner, since the last known area survivor, William Furrer, died in September. However, the dinner is to honor all who served in World War II, Duncan added.
“This is a generation that is quickly going away,” Duncan said.
The dinner is an opportunity to meet and talk to veterans who served in the conflict, he said. The veterans grew up during the Great Depression and then, when the United States entered the war, they found themselves on the other side of the globe.
“When you finally get to hear some of the veterans’ stories you get an image of how life was back then,” Duncan said. “That is something you won’t get out of the history books.”
Some of the stories may not come from combat.
For example, Margie Lantz, Furrer’s daughter, told The Chronicle in September about one of her father’s favorite war stories from his time in the Navy.
While Furrer was stationed on Funafuti, a tiny atoll about 3,000 miles east of Australia, the Japanese conducted an air raid right after the garrison had received a new supply shipment.
The fresh shipment of potatoes the explosions hit was scattered throughout the airfield, Lantz said.
This year, Duncan will give the presentation because a local veteran who wanted to talk was not found, he said. He will talk about local veterans and his grandfather, who was a B-24 Liberator pilot in the China Burma India Theatre of the war from 1942-44.
“He has an unique story,” Duncan said.
He is also working on publishing a book about his grandfather’s service.
Learn more at www.veteransmuseum.org.
