12/6/2009 11:11:00 PM
Almost gone but not forgotten:
Only 2 original members remain of Prescott's Pearl Harbor Survivors
| |
|
 |
| Doug Cook/The Daily Courier |
 |
 |
Les Stukenberg, file/The Daily Courier
Bill Lyon and Frank Murphy, both United States Navy Pearl Harbor survivors, chat in December 2005 as they walk along one of the sidewalks at the VA Hospital in Prescott. |
| | New group forming to cherish veterans’ memories | PRESCOTT - As membership declines in the Prescott chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, another group is taking shape to keep those veterans' memories alive.
Called the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, it is currently seeking members that are direct descendants of those in the U.S. military who survived the attack on Dec. 7, 1941.
At least three of those descendants attended the Prescott group's annual Christmas luncheon this past Wednesday at the Golden Corral restaurant, where they shared stories about their time spent at Pearl Harbor as the children of military fathers.
Even if the Prescott Pearl Harbor Survivors does not hang on, the new contingent promises to keep the former's traditions alive.
Based on records that the Courier obtained this past week, the group has just two members that still live here - Frank Murphy and Bill Lyon.
The original members were 14 World War II veterans, including Clancey Fields (founder), Les Augie, Bob Baker, Louie Barrow, Bob Blum, Don Carr, Ralph Evans, Lyon, Les Mannweiler, Jack May, John Miklochik, Jim Miller, Murphy and Chuck Nicholas. Jill Higgins, who was a child living in Pearl Harbor when the attack happened, was also on the list.
Nonetheless, Betty Murphy, Frank Murphy's wife who once kept records for the group, said she recalls as many as 22 members, but she could not recite the other seven names.
For more information about joining the Sons and Daughters group, call Bill Williamson at 708-0843.
|
|
Seventeen years ago, more than a dozen World War II veterans formed the Prescott chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association in remembrance of Japan's Dec. 7, 1941, sneak attack on the U.S. Navy fleet in Hawaii.
The contingent met regularly for meetings during its inception. But now only a pair of its original members still lives here, while the others have either moved away or died.
As the nation honors those in the Armed Forces who perished at Pearl Harbor 68 years ago today, plunging America into World War II, the memories of those who survived are fading rapidly.
The two Prescott-based survivors - Frank Murphy, 92, and Bill Lyon, 86 - are not just losing their ability to share their stories. They're also facing serious medical hardships.
Murphy is nearly deaf, and this past week doctors released him from the Bob Stump Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Prescott for another ailment. Perhaps understandably, he was unavailable for comment.
On Thursday, Lyon learned he has terminal cancer in his esophagus and liver and may not live much longer. His wife, Connie, feeds him and dispenses his pain medication at their Prescott Valley home.
***
In the 1930s, several years before WWII, Murphy was living in Phoenix, riding in rodeos and making a fair living at it. But during the winter of 1937-38, jobs were scarce. He wanted to join the Army and become a cavalryman so he could continue riding horses.
He passed all of the Army's exams. However, to be in the cavalry, he had to pay his own way for training at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
Disgusted, Murphy enlisted in the Navy, knowing he could at least ride something - a ship.
In January 1938, the Navy put him on a train to San Diego, where he became an apprentice seaman at age 20.
Three years later, Murphy sailed to Hawaii on the destroyer U.S.S. Phelps, where it was stationed at nearby Pearl Harbor. By the spring of 1941, annual leave was due to him, but he wasn't set to return to the states until December.
Murphy and a friend, Clinton Zachary, were set to head out of Pearl Harbor on a bus to Honolulu the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when they "idly glanced at a group of planes flying in unusually low," he wrote in "Boot to Tin Can Sailor," an unpublished biography his wife, Betty, helped him write 20 years ago.
They thought, "Sunday is a hell of a day to practice, but that's the Navy for you."
Only this was no drill. The Japanese were flying their fighter planes in low and bombing the base and the U.S. ships docked there.
"All at once it struck us - the U.S.S. Oklahoma listed unnaturally, and its boats were falling off the boat deck," Murphy wrote. "Smoke began to fill the sky, too."
Three machine gun bullets tore into Murphy's lower right leg as he and Zachary ran for cover. After a medic bandaged him, Murphy and his buddy climbed in an empty whaleboat and rescued an untold number of sailors from the water.
During the rescue, a direct hit on the nearby U.S.S. Arizona sent a huge fireball into the sky, which burned off Murphy's hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.
"The water, black and murky with oil and debris from the damaged ships, and the sky filled with black, choking smoke from the fires, made it seem like Hell, only we were still alive," Murphy wrote. "How we slept, or whether we slept that night escapes my mind entirely. Time seemed to stand still after the awful event of December 7th."
Murphy later went back to the U.S.S. Phelps, which was spared in the attack, and continued serving in the war - having quickly forgotten about his plans to return home to Arizona. Ultimately, he stayed in the Navy for 22 years. He didn't move to Prescott until 1961, where he has lived ever since.
***
In the early 1940s, Lyon was living in Buckeye when he joined the Navy at age 17. He trained in San Diego for six weeks before boarding the light cruiser U.S.S. Detroit, which left for Pearl Harbor in June 1940.
Lyon, who was transferred to a submarine base for torpedo school before the attack, said he remembered eating a big ham steak on Dec. 7, 1941, when whistles started blowing, and sirens and bugles sounded.
"I went outside and the bombs were dropping," Lyon, who also witnessed the U.S.S. Arizona explosion, said from his Prescott Valley home this past Thursday. "When the war started, I had a feeling as though God had just reached down and put his arms around me and said, 'Don't worry, my son, I'll protect you.'"
Lyon added that he spent the next four years, until 1945, never seeing "any really bad action" in WWII.
In 1991, on the 50th anniversary of the attack, Lyon received a "Remember Pearl Harbor" medal from the governor's office at a ceremony in Phoenix.
***
Shortly after Lyon received the medal, a bunch of local men who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor decided to form the Prescott PHSA.
Murphy once served as the group's president, which held its first meeting in Prescott on March 11, 1992, with 27 attendees, including guests.
Three or four years ago, he stopped attending the group's meetings. Betty said Frank's hearing began failing him and he became frustrated that he couldn't communicate well.
Lyon is the current president, but his cancer diagnosis will likely prevent him from staying active. A limited number of Pearl Harbor survivors still live in Prescott, and a couple of them attended the Prescott PHSA's annual Christmas lunch this past Wednesday.
"I have a deep interest in keeping the memories alive of Pearl Harbor through the PHSA," Lyon said. "Young people should know what happened that day."
|
Posted: Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Article comment by:
duckie
Thank you Courier
I have uncles who served and were at Pearl Harbor, it was amazing to me that the day almost passed by and most people did not realize that is was one of the most important days in our history. I so admire the men and women who served our country then and now. Without them America would not be what it is, a country where we have freedoms. God Bless these two men and all the others around the country that served us proudly
Posted: Monday, December 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Carla Barrow
I am Carla
Barrow the daughter of one of the Prescott Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter, Louie Barrow. he was a marine and in the barracks when the attack began and served in the south pacific campaign for the duration of the war as an amphibious tank gunnery sergeant. He was involved in many of the most infamous battles; Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Bougainville, etc.
He died in July of 2005 and is in the Prescott Veterans Cemetary.
I'd like to be a member too.
Posted: Monday, December 07, 2009
Article comment by:
In Gratitude
Thank you, Courier, for your excellent article. I cannot imagine what that day must have been like. Let us keep these men in our collective heart. They deserve nothing less.
Posted: Monday, December 07, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Thanks to our veterans! True heroes. And good job Daily Courier--I'm hearing lots of folks around the country up in arms because their paper did not mention this incredibly important day in our history.
Posted: Monday, December 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Cathy Lyon
Although "Papa" Lyon is no longer my father-in-law, he will forever be my hero. He has always been committed to his country, his family, his community and because of the service he and his commrades unselfishly gave, we enjoy freedom. There are many "Papas" in the making serving in Iraq and Afganistan now preserving the freedoms we so easily take for granted. Next time you see a person who has served in the military, be sure to tell them thank you.
Posted: Monday, December 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Rachel
God bless all of our veterans, especially those who survived that horrible attack!
Posted: Monday, December 07, 2009
Article comment by:
Cheryle Hoover Davis
My Dad, Rex Hoover, Sr. was on the U.S.S, Helena at Pearl Harbor on that fateful day. He lived in Prescott for many years, and worked at the VA hospital. He passed away in 2001 and is now at the Prescott National Cemetery. I'd like to join the Sons and Daughters group, even though I now live in Flagstaff.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
