Harry Chandler, a Navy medic who rescued injured sailors during the attack on Pearl Harbor, US, in 1941, has died at the age of 103.
He passed away on Monday at a senior living center in Tequesta, US state of Florida, according to Ron Mahaffee, the husband of his granddaughter, Kelli Fahey. Chandler had congestive heart failure, though his age was also noted as a factor.
He is survived by one daughter, nine grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren.
Chandler was a hospital corpsman 3rd class when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, bringing the US into World War II. He was the third Pearl Harbor survivor to pass away in recent weeks.
On the morning of the attack, Chandler was raising the flag at a mobile hospital in Aiea Heights, overlooking the harbor. He initially thought the planes were arriving from the mainland until he saw the bombs drop. “I thought they were planes coming in from the states until I saw the bombs dropping,” Chandler said, while talking to the news agency AP in 2023. He sought cover, fearing the planes might start strafing.
Chandler’s unit traveled to the base in trucks to help the wounded. In an oral history interview, he recalled boarding a boat to pull injured sailors from the oil-covered water. He described washing off the sailors and focusing entirely on his tasks. “It got so busy you weren’t scared. Weren’t scared at all. We were busy. It was after you got scared,” he said. Reflecting later, he realized the danger he had faced but said, “You didn’t think about that while you were busy taking care of people.”
The attack killed over 2,300 US servicemen, including 1,177 sailors and Marines on the USS Arizona, which sank within nine minutes of being bombed.
Chandler revisited Pearl Harbor in 2023 for a ceremony marking the 82nd anniversary of the attack. “I look out there, and I can still see what’s going on. I can still see what was happening,” he said. He urged Americans to “be prepared,” adding, “We should have known that was going to happen. The intelligence has to be better.”
After the war, Chandler worked as a painter and upholsterer and served in the Navy reserves, retiring as a senior chief in 1981. Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, he spent much of his life in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and later split his time between Massachusetts and Florida.
Chandler had one biological daughter and adopted two daughters during his second marriage to Anna Chandler, who died in 2004.
According to Kathleen Farley, chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, Chandler’s death leaves only 15 survivors of the attack on Oahu. Two others, Bob Fernandez, 100, and Warren Upton, 105, also died this month.
Military historian J Michael Wenger has estimated that there were some 87,000 military personnel on the island of Oahu the day of the attack.
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