Time Is Running Out for Pearl Harbor Survivors to Tell Their Stories

From the December 17, 2012, Daily Herald (Chicago suburbs).

Now in their 80 and 90s "an exclusive fraternity that shrinks with each passing year," it become more and more important that these people tell their stories and get them on paper.

Joe Triolo. 92, of Waukegan, Illinois, fears many people, especially school children, know little of it and that public ceremonies are becoming rarer.  This is why he makes it a point to visit classrooms whenever he can.

Financial problems, teaching to the standardized tests, No Child Left behind and emphasis on math and science are torpedoing knowledge of this important event in U.S. history.

The recent recovery of the World War II plane from Lake Michigan helps bring the war back to the public.  It will be restored and on display at the U.S. Navy Museum in Pensacola, Florida.  Chicago was a major training area for navy pilots.

"We cannot do the same with the survivors of Pearl Harbor.  We must hear their stories now," Triolo continued.  Unlike the plane, when the men die, so does their story unless it is on paper.

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