Pearl Harbor Survivors Hosted by Spokane Valley Adventist School

How did area Pearl Harbor survivors spend the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor? With a groups of students.

On Dec. 7, 2011, the members of the Lilac Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Association were the honored guests at a luncheon and school assembly hosted by Spokane (Wash.) Valley Adventist School. The activities started with select students having lunch with the survivors, and students and survivors both enjoyed the exchange of ideas and stories.

Approximately 150 more students from area Adventist schools joined them after lunch for a special 70th-anniversary assembly moderated by Carol Hipperson, a local author who wrote the book Radioman. Radioman is the story of Ray Daves, a Pearl Harbor survivor, who until his recent death was the president of the Lilac Chapter. The assembly was focused upon the personal stories the survivors and their families. It was a touching tribute to these wonderful men and women who were involved in one of the darkest days in American history.

Members of the group feel that it is their duty to tell the story of Pearl Harbor so that the younger generation will realize it is important to be patriotic and be willing to fight for the freedoms and liberty that we enjoy. The students attending this assembly will certainly not forget this important lesson provided by the Lilac Chapter on the 70th anniversary of an event that certainly changed their lives and the history of the world.

Featured in: February 2012

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