PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — As veterans from Pearl Harbor observed the 70th anniversary of the attack Wednesday, an aging and dwindling group of survivors announced that it would disband.
“People had other things that they wanted to do with the remainder of their lives,” Pearl Harbor Survivors Association president William Muehleib said after the ceremony. “It was time. Some of the requirements became a burden.”
Muehleib also cited poor health among the group’s 2,700 members.
Muehleib said there are an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 Pearl Harbor survivors. Local chapters of the group will function as long as they have members and survivors can gather socially, but they will no longer have a formal, national organization.
And survivors of the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, will be able to attend future commemoration ceremonies on their own.
About 3,000 people, including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and military leaders, attended Wednesday’s events overlooking the sunken USS Arizona and the white memorial that straddles the battleship.
Mal Middlesworth, a Marine who was on the USS San Francisco during the attack, said the survivors association formed to make sure younger generations heard about what they went through.
“They wanted young America to understand that freedom isn’t free. Never has been and looks like it’s never going to be,” he said in the keynote address. “Remember, he who forgets history will live it again.”
