Pearl Harbor survivors meet in Lake Co.
After a late night out in Hawaii, sailor Ambrose Ferri was preparing to take a nap aboard the USS Vestal when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The Vestal, a repair ship, was moored next to the USS Arizona, the famed battleship that sank in the attack. The Vestal was damaged by two bombs, and several of its crew members were killed, but the ship was able to escape.
"It was indescribable," Ferri, a Waukegan resident, said of the mayhem and devastation. "It happened so fast."
Ferri was among the veterans who attended the semiannual meeting of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association's Northern Illinois chapter on Tuesday at Lambs Farm in Green Oaks.
They were joined by spouses, children, grandchildren and even two great-grandchildren.
"It was just such a memorable (event), and it's great to get together," said survivor Dean Garrett of Freeport, a town west of Rockford.
An Iowa native, Garrett, 90, was a medic at a hospital at Pearl Harbor and treated sailors wounded in the attack.
Despite having beds for only 250 men, the hospital had 900 patients by that evening.
"We moved from one patient to another," Garrett recalled. "It was endless."
Garrett was accompanied at Tuesday's luncheon by his granddaughter, Danielle VenHuizen, and her 13-year-old son, Sam.
The teen was proud to be there.
"It's special to hear all their stories and to know what they went through," he said.
About 3,100 Pearl Harbor survivors are still alive, said Arthur G. Herriford, a California resident who is the national president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. About 30 die each month, he estimated.
Mundelein resident Rick Miller's father, Clarence, was aboard the USS Ramsay during the attack. Clarence Miller died in 2000, and his remains were scattered at Pearl Harbor in accordance with his final wishes.
Now the secretary of the local survivors group, Rick Miller said staying active in the group helps him deal with his father's death.
"It's a big part of my life right now," he explained. "It's my way to keep his memory alive."
Some active-duty personnel from the Great Lakes Naval Station attended Tuesday's luncheon, too. Senior Chief George Melonas said it's important for today's sailors to maintain a link to the Pearl Harbor survivors, who are dwindling in number.
Get-togethers like these, Melonas said, are very special occasions.
"It's vital to remember where we came from," he said.
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