Las Vegas PHSA Chapter Draws to An End

From the March 13th Las Vegas Sun "As numbers dwindle, members of local PHSA call it quits" by Alda Ahmed.

The five remaining members of the Silver State Chapter 2 Pearl Harbor Survivors Association brought their organization to an end earlier this week with a final meeting and lunch at the Grand Cafe at the Boulder Station Casino.

The members:

William E, Simshauser, 90
Clifton Dohrman, president, 90
Halll Lalone, 88
Joseph Hornish, 91
Ira Schab, 91

William Simshauser was 19 when the attack came and stationed at Bellows Airfield on Oahu. He remembers three Japanese planes coming at several of them and says the only thing that saved them was a hill behind them which caused the pilots to have to pull up.

The organization started in 1972 with sixty gathering at a room in the Desert Inn. Since then, most have died or are too feeble to attend.

The national organized closed down this past December 7th, the 70th anniversary of the attack. It is estimated that there were 40,000 servicemen on Oahu when the attack came. Only about 2,000 remain alive.

Each man got a $5 bill to help pay for lunch. This came from the now closed organization bank account.

Clifton Dohrman was a mechanic working on a PBY Catalina that day and remembers a "kid" practically shot in half. Of the 36 planes in his squadron, there were only three left at the end of the attack.

Sad to Lose This Organization. --GreGen