By newsfirstusa 
Bob Fernandez, a 100-year-old survivor of the Eastern bombing of Pearl Harbor, died in a while next deteriorating fitness brought about him to skip a shuttle to Hawaii to wait utmost pace’s remembrance rite marking the 83rd yearly of the assault.
Fernandez died peacefully on the Lodi, California, house of his nephew, Joe Guthrie, on Wednesday. Guthrie’s daughter, Halie Torrrell, was once conserving his hand when he took his utmost breath. Fernandez suffered a stroke a couple of future in the past that led to him to decelerate however Guthrie stated medical doctors attributed his status to month.
“It was his time,” Guthrie stated.
Fernandez was once a 17-year-old sailor on board the united statesCurtiss all the way through the Dec. 7, 1941, assault that propelled the U.S. into World War II. A large number prepare dinner, he was once ready tables and bringing sailors morning espresso and meals once they heard an alarm tone. Thru a porthole, Fernandez noticed a airplane fly via with the pink ball insignia identified to be painted on Eastern plane.
Pearl Harbor Army veteran Bob Fernandez is photographed at house Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Lodi, Calif. (AP Photograph/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
He in a rush unwell 3 decks to a booklet room the place he and alternative sailors waited for somebody to release a door storing shells so they may move them to the send’s weapons. He has informed interviewers over time that a few of his fellow sailors had been praying and crying as they heard gunfire above.
“I felt kind of scared because I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” Fernandez informed The Related Press in an interview weeks sooner than his loss of life.
Fernandez’s send, the Curtiss, misplaced 21 males and just about 60 of its sailors had been injured. The bombing killed greater than 2,300 U.S. servicemen. Just about part, or 1,177, had been sailors and Marines on board the united statesArizona, which sank all the way through the struggle.
“We lost a lot of good people, you know. They didn’t do nothing,” Fernandez stated. “But we never know what’s going to happen in a war.”
Fernandez have been making plans to go back to Pearl Harbor utmost pace to wait an annual commemoration hosted by the Navy and the Nationwide Landscape Provider however turned into too vulnerable to form the shuttle, Guthrie stated.
He was once “so proud” of his six years within the Army, it all onboard the united statesCurtiss, Guthrie stated. Maximum of his aimless garments, like hats and shirts, had been matching to his carrier.
“It was just completely ingrained in him,” his nephew stated.
Fernandez labored as a forklift motive force at a cannery in San Leandro, California, next the struggle. His spouse of 65 years, Mary Fernandez, died in 2014.
He loved tune and dancing, and till not too long ago attended weekly tune performances at a neighborhood soil and a cafe. He helped neighbors in his trailer soil deal their yards till he moved in with Guthrie utmost yr.
“I’d do yard work and split firewood and he’d swing the axe a little bit,” Guthrie stated. “We’d call it his physical therapy.”
Fernandez’s recommendation for residing a protracted age integrated preventing consuming while you’re complete and marching up stairs. He stated it was once OK to speed a sleep, however do one thing like laundry or wash dishes sooner than getting to mattress. He beneficial being sort to everybody.
Guthrie stated he thinks Fernandez would need to be remembered for bringing society pleasure.
“He would rake people’s yards if they couldn’t do it. He would paint a fence. He would help somebody,” Guthrie stated. “He would give people money if they needed something. He was so generous and such a kind person. He made friends everywhere.”
Fernandez is survived via his oldest son, Robert J. Fernandez, a granddaughter and several other great-grandchildren.
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There are 16 identified survivors of Pearl Harbor which can be nonetheless alive, consistent with an inventory maintained via Kathleen Farley, the California environment chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. They all are no less than 100 years aged.
Fernandez’s loss of life would have introduced the quantity to fifteen, however Farley not too long ago discovered of an alternative survivor.