Gary Sinise assists at the 105th anniversary celebration of the oldest survivor of Pearl Harbor.
t is crucial that we continue to honor and celebrate our veterans while they are still with us because they have given so much of themselves for us.
Actor Gary Sinise has made sure that all veterans are aware of our appreciation for them.
A lavish event for World War II veterans was scheduled to take place at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans on Wednesday. For the celebration of the oldest living veteran of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, people lined up outside the venue waving flags.
The main purpose of the celebration was to honor Californian Joseph Eskenazi, 105, of Redondo Beach. Eskenazi told the media, “It feels great.”
The event was attended by Eskenazi’s great-grandson, who is now 5 years old, and great-granddaughter, who is 21 months old.
Eskenazi, who will turn 105 on January 30, hopped on an Amtrak train in California on Friday to get to New Orleans in time for the celebration. For the occasion, other veterans from the Army, Navy, and Marines also flew in.
All of this was made possible by the Soaring Valor Program of actor Gary Sinise, a nonprofit organization that supports military personnel and first responders. Veterans of World War II and their guardians can take trips to the museum with the help of the program.
Eskenazi was a first-class private in the Army at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. He clearly recalls the attack, narrating how a bomb fell close to where he was sleeping but did not detonate, waking him up.
He also remembered Schofield Barracks, which was shaking from explosions as Japanese bombs sank the battleship USS Arizona. The veteran recalled that despite the dust being stirred up by enemy machine gun fire around them, he still offered to drive a bulldozer across a field so that it could be cleared and used as a runway.
Because they were aware that raising their hand would result in death, no one else did. I acted inadvertently.
He was a service member at the Army’s Schofield Barracks when the attack on December 7, 1941, started and the United States entered the war. There were about 2,400 military fatalities.
Today at the museum, Eskenazi and other veterans posed for photos next to a variety of World War II planes and the Higgins boats, which were built with beach landings in mind.
Billy Hall, a veteran who joined the Marines in 1941 and advanced to the rank of major, “Thank you guys for providing us a country that was worth fighting for.”
