Three Pearl Harbor Survivors Honored-- Part 1

From the Dec. 7, 2013, Daily Herald (NW Chicago Suburbs) "So few Pearl Harbor survivors left; 3 honored in Des Plaines" by Christopher Placek.

ED BLOCK, 23, a Navy barber, was sleeping on the USS Medusa after a night on the town drinking beer "just like every other sailor." Now 93, he said, "I looked out the porthole and I saw the airplanes dropping their bombs. I said to the other two men that were there, 'It looks like a sham battle' And then a second later, I said, 'Oh God, no. It's a war."

Only about 1,000 Pearl Harbor survivors are still alive from the 84,000 American military personnel who were there that day. Their numbers have dropped so low that their Pearl Harbor Survivors Association disbanded two years ago.

--GreGen