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Bob Fernandez, 100-year-old survivor of the Pearl Bombing Japan’s Harbor He died shortly after deteriorating health forced him to cancel a trip to Hawaii to attend a memorial service last week. On the 83rd anniversary of the attack
Fernandez died peacefully at the Lodi, California, home of his grandson, Joe Guthrie, on Wednesday. Guthrie’s daughter, Halie Torrell, was holding his hand as he took his last breaths. Fernandez was Had a stroke about a month ago. which slows him down But Guthrie said doctors considered his condition to be age-related.
On this day in history, December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 Americans and launched us into World War II.
“It was his time,” Guthrie said.
Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor aboard the USS Curtiss during the December 2018 September 7, 1941, attack that propelled the United States. Enter World War II He was a busy cook waiting tables and bringing coffee and morning meals to sailors. When they heard the alarm sound Fernandez saw a plane fly through the window with the red ball emblem painted on Japanese planes.
Pearl Harbor Navy veteran Bob Fernandez is photographed at home on Tuesday, November 1, September 19, 2024 in Lodi, California. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)
He rushed three floors down to the magazine room, where he and the other sailors waited for someone to unlock the ammunition storage door so they could deliver it to the ship’s guns. He has told interviewers over the years that some of his fellow crew members were praying and crying as they heard gunfire from above.
“I was a little scared because I didn’t know what was going on,” Fernandez told The Associated Press in an interview weeks before his death.
Fernandez’s ship, the Curtiss, lost 21 men and nearly 60 crew members were injured. The explosion killed more than 2,300 U.S. service members, nearly half, or 1,177, sailors and Marines aboard the USS Arizona, which sank during the fighting.
“We lost a lot of good people, they didn’t do anything,” Fernandez said. “But we never know what will happen in war.”
Fernandez planned to return to Pearl Harbor last week to attend the annual commemoration organized by the Navy and National Park Service. But he was too weak to travel, Guthrie said.
He is “very proud” of his six years in the Navy. All of this was aboard the USS Curtiss, Guthrie said. Most of his casual clothes, like hats and shirts, were worn. related to his service
“It was completely ingrained in him,” his grandson said.
Fernandez worked as a forklift driver at a canning plant in San Leandro, California, after the war. His wife of 65 years, Mary Fernandez, died in 2014.
He likes music and dancing. and until recently attended weekly musical performances at local parks and restaurants. He helped neighbors in his trailer park take care of their lawns until he moved in with Guthrie last year.
“I will do garden work and split firewood. And he’ll swing the ax a little bit,” Guthrie said. “We’ll call it his physical therapy.”
Fernandez’s tips for living a long life include stopping eating when you’re full and taking the stairs. He said he could take a nap. But do something like do the laundry or do the dishes before going to bed. He advises being kind to everyone.
Guthrie said he thinks Fernandez would like to be remembered for bringing joy to people.
“He would sweep people up if they couldn’t do it. He will paint the fence. He would help someone,” Guthrie said. “He would give people money if they needed something. He is very kind and a kind person. He makes friends everywhere.”
Fernandez is survived by his eldest son, Robert J. Fernandez, several nieces and nephews and great-grandchildren.
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There are 16 Pearl Harbor survivors still alive. That’s according to a list maintained by Kathleen Farley, California president of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. All of them are at least 100 years old.
Fernandez’s death would have brought the death toll to 15, but it was only recently. Farley learned more about the survivors.
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