Post by Sailor on Dec 7, 2011 15:13:04 GMT -8
HONOLULU -- Lee Soucy, who lived to be 90 after surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor, is finally back with his shipmates 70 years later.
Soucy passed away just last year. On Tuesday, seven decades after dozens of fellow Sailors were killed when the USS Utah sank on Dec. 7, 1941, Navy divers took a small urn containing his ashes and put it in a porthole of the ship.
The ceremony is one of five memorials being held this week for servicemen who lived through the assault and want their remains placed in Pearl Harbor out of pride and affinity for those they left behind.
"They want to return and be with the shipmates that they lost during the attack," said Jim Taylor, a retired Sailor who coordinates the ceremonies.
The memorials are happening the same week the country observes the 70th anniversary of the aerial bombing that killed 2,390 Americans and brought the United States into World War II. A larger ceremony to remember all those who perished will be held Wednesday just before 8 a.m. Hawaii time -- the same moment the devastating attack began.
Most of the 12 ships that sank or were beached that day were removed from the harbor, their metal hulls salvaged for scrap. Just the Utah and the USS Arizona still lie in the dark blue waters. Only survivors of those vessels may return in death to their ships.
The cremated remains of Vernon Olsen, who served aboard the Arizona, will be interred on his ship during a sunset ceremony Wednesday. The ashes of three other survivors are being scattered in the harbor.
More here:
www.military.com/news/article/pearl-harbor-survivors-return-to-ships-after-death.html?ESRC=eb.nl
Soucy passed away just last year. On Tuesday, seven decades after dozens of fellow Sailors were killed when the USS Utah sank on Dec. 7, 1941, Navy divers took a small urn containing his ashes and put it in a porthole of the ship.
The ceremony is one of five memorials being held this week for servicemen who lived through the assault and want their remains placed in Pearl Harbor out of pride and affinity for those they left behind.
"They want to return and be with the shipmates that they lost during the attack," said Jim Taylor, a retired Sailor who coordinates the ceremonies.
The memorials are happening the same week the country observes the 70th anniversary of the aerial bombing that killed 2,390 Americans and brought the United States into World War II. A larger ceremony to remember all those who perished will be held Wednesday just before 8 a.m. Hawaii time -- the same moment the devastating attack began.
Most of the 12 ships that sank or were beached that day were removed from the harbor, their metal hulls salvaged for scrap. Just the Utah and the USS Arizona still lie in the dark blue waters. Only survivors of those vessels may return in death to their ships.
The cremated remains of Vernon Olsen, who served aboard the Arizona, will be interred on his ship during a sunset ceremony Wednesday. The ashes of three other survivors are being scattered in the harbor.
More here:
www.military.com/news/article/pearl-harbor-survivors-return-to-ships-after-death.html?ESRC=eb.nl
