PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (KPTV) – This week, a 101-year-old man who lives in Washington County visited Pearl Harbor for the 80th anniversary of the attack.
Navy veteran Ira Schab survived the attack uninjured.
“He’s said that before like he just can’t believe that 80 years later he’s still standing,” Schab’s daughter Kimberlee Heinrichs said.
Schab was a musician in Navy Band 13, playing tuba and clarinet.
While visiting for the anniversary ceremony, his daughter says he had the opportunity to lead the Pacific Fleet Band.
A Pearl Harbor survivor will be at the 80th memorial this week, thanks to the help of his daughter and dozens of strangers who wanted to make sure he could be there.
“And I stand there, and I have a hand on the pop just to make sure, and then these kids look at it with so much love and admiration and some of them cry and I cry,” Heinrichs mentioned. .
“I’m not a very emotional guy, but it was just a treat that I thoroughly enjoyed myself,” Schab said.
The visit was full of special moments.
It all started with her daughter’s fundraising effort to get her there, which FOX 12 reported last month.
Schab would need two people to travel with him to get him there safely.
So she created this Gofundme page.
After FOX 12’s report, donations poured in, far exceeding their goal.
“Just thank you forever from the bottom of my heart,” Schab said. “It allowed me to do something I couldn’t have dreamed of.”
Picture: KPTV
“It was an amazing experience overall and one of the most important and wonderful things about it was what people said in this Gofundme and why they donated,” Heinrichs said. .
Thanks to the kindness of the community, Heinrichs says she is inspired to find ways to help other veterans.
If you want to know more about Schab’s journey, check out his Twitter page.
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