Harry Chandler, Navy medic who helped rescue sailors injured in Pearl Harbor attack, dies at 103
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-chandler-dies-navy-medic-pearl-harbor-attack-age-103/
Excerpt:
Harry Chandler, a Navy medic who helped pull injured sailors from the oily waters of Pearl Harbor after the 1941 Japanese attack on the naval base, has died. He was 103.
Chandler died Monday at a senior living center in Tequesta, Florida, according to Ron Mahaffee, the husband of his granddaughter Kelli Fahey. Chandler had congestive heart failure, but Mahaffee said doctors and nurses noted his advanced age when giving a cause of death.
The third Pearl Harbor survivor to die in the past few weeks, Chandler was a hospital corpsman 3rd class on Dec. 7, 1941, when waves of Japanese fighter planes dropped bombs and fired machine guns on battleships in the harbor and plunged the U.S. into World War II.
He told The Associated Press in 2023 that he saw the planes approach as he was raising the flag that morning at a mobile hospital in Aiea Heights, which is in the hills overlooking the base.
“I thought they were planes coming in from the states until I saw the bombs dropping,” Chandler said. His first instinct was to take cover and “get the hell out of here.”
......His unit rode trucks down to attend the injured. He said in a Pacific Historic Parks oral history interview that he boarded a boat to help pluck wounded sailors from the water.
The harbor was covered in oil from exploding ships, so Chandler washed the sailors off after lifting them out. He said he was too focused on his work to be afraid.
“It got so busy you weren’t scared. Weren’t scared at all. We were busy. It was after you got scared,” Chandler said.
He realized later that he could have been killed, “But you didn’t think about that while you were busy taking care of people.”
.....Chandler’s memories came flowing back when he visited Pearl Harbor for a 2023 ceremony commemorating the 82nd anniversary of the bombing.
“I look out there, and I can still see what’s going on. I can still see what was happening,” Chandler told The Associated Press.
Asked what he wanted Americans to know about Pearl Harbor, he said: “Be prepared.”
“We should have known that was going to happen. The intelligence has to be better,” he said.
.....Military historian J. Michael Wenger has estimated that there were some 87,000 military personnel on the island of Oahu the day of the attack. With Chandler’s death only 15 are still living, according to a tally maintained by Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.
Bob Fernandez, who served on the USS Curtiss, also died this month, at age 100, and Warren Upton, 105, who served on the USS Utah, died last week.
Chile’s president completes historic Antarctica trip
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Chilean President Gabriel Boric has become the first leader in the Americas to visit the South Pole, his government confirmed.
Boric arrived at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station Friday, where the temperature sat at more than 20 degrees below zero.
The president’s trip was meant to reinforce Chile’s claim to sovereignty in part of Antarctica.
.....Boric’s entourage on the two-day voyage dubbed Operation Pole Star III included scientists, military personnel and members of his own government cabinet.
Boric said Chile is looking to expand its scientific and environmental footprints in the region, where the country’s activities have historically been limited to the northern sector of the Antarctic Peninsula.
“Operation Pole Star III will extend environmental monitoring of concentrations of natural and anthropogenic pollutants on the Antarctic continent, with an emphasis on black carbon. It will also provide first-hand knowledge of the management of environmental standards implemented at the Amundsen-Scott Station, with a view to obtaining knowledge for the operation of current and future Antarctic bases in Chile, the Chilean government said in a release on its website.