Pearl Harbor Vets

I work in a Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital and I've gotten to know vets from every conflict since WW1. Not much more than a week has passed since the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association's announcement that

"With age and aching joints slowing the sailors, marines and airmen who lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor, the major national survivors group has decided this year’s gathering will be its last in Hawaii."

Sadly, inevitably, their numbers shrank by at least one more a few days ago.
I'll just call him Arthur. He was in the US Navy but on shore that day. Arthur had been sick for these last few years and had been in the hospital quite a bit. Over these few years I've heard many stories of that day, and the days following December 7th, 1941. Its a story I've heard many times over the years working at the VA. Ordinary men doing the extraordinary when need calls and never believing their actions were the least bit special. "Just what any decent man would do." Perhaps so, but the world is a bit less rich for your passing, Arthur.

Godspeed, Arthur.