Harry Chandler, a Navy doctor who helped pull injured sailors out of the oily water pearl harbor He died after the Japanese attack on the naval base in 1941. He was 103 years old.
Chandler died Monday at a senior living center in Tequesta, Florida, according to Ron Mahaffey, the husband of his granddaughter Kelly Fahey. Chandler had congestive heart failure, but Mahaffey said doctors and nurses took his advanced age into account when determining the cause of death.
The third Pearl Harbor survivor to die in the past few weeks was a Chandler Hospital corpsman 3rd class December 7, 1941When waves of Japanese fighter planes bombed and machine-gunned the battleships in the harbor, plunging America into World War II.
He told The Associated Press in 2023 that he saw planes approaching as he was raising the flag that morning at a mobile hospital in Aiea Heights, which is in the hills overlooking the base.
Chandler said, “Until I saw the bombs falling, I thought they were planes coming from the States.” His first instinct was to hide and “get out of here.”
“I was afraid they would start firing,” he said.
Mengshin Lin/AP
His unit rode in trucks to care for the wounded. He said in a Pacific Historic Parks oral history interview that he boarded a boat to help pull injured sailors from the water.
The harbor was covered in oil due to ship explosions, so Chandler washed the sailors out after getting them out. He said that he was so focused on his work that he did not feel afraid.
Chandler said, “It got so hectic that you weren't scared. Not scared at all. We were busy. It happened after you got scared.”
He later realized that he could have been murdered, “but you didn't think about it when you were busy taking care of people.”
More than 2,300 American soldiers were killed in this attack. About half, or 1,177 sailors and Marines, were aboard the USS Arizona, which sank nine minutes after the bombardment. Last April, Lou Conter, the last surviving survivor of the USS Arizona,
died in his sleep After heart failure at the age of 102.
Chandler's memories were refreshed when he visited Pearl Harbor for a 2023 ceremony commemorating the 82nd anniversary of the bombing.
“I look over there and I can still see what was happening. I can still see what was happening,” Chandler told The Associated Press.
Asked what he wanted to tell Americans about Pearl Harbor, he said: “Be prepared.”
“We should have known this was going to happen. The intelligence should have been better,” he said.
Stephanie Valderrama, anchor of CBS affiliate WPEC-TV She said she was “surprised” After interviewing Chandler in recent years.
She said, “I've interviewed a lot of people over the last 10 years or so, and I've never walked away from an interview feeling so amazed by someone.” “His memory, he remembered all those moments and he spoke about it so … eloquently and clearly.”
After the war Chandler worked as a painter and wallpaper hanger and bought an upholstery business with his brother. He also joined the Naval Reserve, retiring as a senior major in 1981.
Chandler was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and lived most of his adult life in nearby South Hadley, Mahaffey said. In recent decades he divided his time between Massachusetts and Florida.
He was an avid golfer, hitting five hole-in-one shots in his lifetime, his grandson-in-law said.
Chandler had one biological daughter and two adopted daughters from his second marriage to Anna Chandler, who died in 2004. He is survived by two daughters, nine grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.
Military historian J. Michael Wenger estimated that there were approximately 87,000 military personnel on the island of Oahu on the day of the attack. According to data maintained by Kathleen Farley, California state president of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, only 15 survived Chandler's death.
bob fernandezHe also died this month at the age of 100, serving on the USS Curtiss warren upton105, who served on the USS Utah, died last week.