STILL REPORTING FOR DUTY SURVIVOR OF PEARL HARBOR ATTACK NOW SERVING VALLEY COMMUNITY.``He's given a lot to his country - and he's still giving.'' - Connie Bonifede Bill Aupperlee belongs to an exclusive club - one you can't buy your way into, one in which pedigree doesn't matter. No, the only way you get into this group is to have been where Bill and the other members were on Dec. 7, 1941 - on a battleship battleship, large, armored warship equipped with the heaviest naval guns. The evolution of the battleship, from the ironclad warship of the mid-19th cent., received great impetus from the Civil War. or destroyer in a place called Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor, land-locked harbor, on the southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, W of Honolulu; one of the largest and best natural harbors in the E Pacific Ocean. In the vicinity are many U.S. military installations, including the chief U.S. . More than 3,000 brave men perished there 64 years ago today. Our day of infamy Notoriety; condition of being known as possessing a shameful or disgraceful reputation; loss of character or good reputation. At Common Law, infamy was an individual's legal status that resulted from having been convicted of a particularly reprehensible crime, rendering him . I called Bill at his North Hollywood home on Tuesday to see what he and other members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, founded in 1958 and recognized by the United States Congress in 1985,[1] is an organization whose members were at or in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii during the Japanese attack of December 7, 1941. had planned for today. Locally, the active members of his club have dwindled from more than 100 to fewer than a dozen. And the sad truth is that before we know it, they will all be gone. Nationally, the number of Pearl Harbor survivors has dwindled to 5,800, including 1,200 living in California, said Arthur Herriford, district director of the local association, which has nothing formal planned today. Bill said he plans to spend Pearl Harbor Day as he does every other weekday. He's up at 1 a.m., and after a quick shower heads over to Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center is a hospital in Burbank, California, USA. The hospital has 455 beds, and is part of Providence Health & Services. It's adress is: 501 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91505. in Burbank to report for duty. The young man who served his country on its day of infamy 64 years ago is still serving it today at age 88. The young sailor who cracked jokes to ease the fear and pain of wounded comrades that morning is still using humor to ease the fear and pain of surgical patients - many of them aging veterans just like him. ``Bill has this incredible talent to make nervous, scared patients take a deep breath and relax,'' says Connie Bonifede, who arrives at the hospital at 2 a.m. to ready the operating rooms and, with Bill's help, get the patients prepped. ``I'll walk in and Bill's already there, telling the patients a joke about his own surgeries. Before you know it, he's got everybody laughing. He's given a lot to his country, and he's still giving.'' Often, the patient he's visiting is a military vet, and their easy conversation will turn to that day at Pearl Harbor. Bill remembers lying in his bunk, half-asleep, trying to figure out what that noise was outside. ``I got up and looked out the porthole, right into a Japanese torpedo plane heading toward us,'' Bill says. ``I rushed to my battle station as we began to maneuver to get out of the harbor. We knew they would want to sink as many ships in the harbor as they could to block others from getting out to sea. ``We went looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the Japanese fleet because we knew these planes weren't fueling on land. But it was a big ocean out there. We never found them and returned to Pearl a few days later.'' He also remembers returning to the carnage and the long list of buddies serving on other ships, like the USS Arizona USS Arizona has been the name of three ships of the United States Navy. The first two ships predate both the territory and state of Arizona, but within the region of northern Mexico known as la Pimería Alta , who didn't make it. Bill's told the story of Pearl to hundreds of schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school over the years to honor the memory of the men who died there. And he promises that the members of the most exclusive club in America will keep telling it until the last man turns out the lights. Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Veteran Bill Aupperlee reflects on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack Pearl Harbor attack (Dec. 7, 1941) Surprise aerial attack by the Japanese on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu island, Hawaii, that precipitated U.S. entry into World War II. In the decade preceding the attack, U.S. at the medical center where he volunteers. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer (2) This file photo from Dec. 7, 1941, shows U.S. warships under attack in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, including the USS Arizona, right, which was sunk. U.S. Navy |
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