HONOLULU (AP) – Bob Fernandez, a 100-year-old survivor of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, died shortly after a failing health caused him to skip a trip to Hawaii to attend last week’s 83rd anniversary commemoration of the attack.
Fernandez died peacefully in Lodi, California, at the home of his nephew, Joe Guthrie, on Wednesday. Guthrie’s daughter, Halie Torrell, was holding his hand as he breathed his last. Fernandez suffered a stroke last month that left him paralyzed, but Guthrie said doctors say his illness was age-related.
“It was his turn,” Guthrie said.
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Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor aboard the USS Curtiss during the December 7, 1941 attack that plunged the US into World War II. A restless cook, he was waiting tables and bringing the sailors breakfast coffee and food when he heard the alarm go off. Through the hole, Fernandez saw a plane flying with the red ball that is known to be painted on Japanese planes.
He ran down three floors to the magazine room where he and the other sailors were waiting for someone to open the door that held the magazines so they could pass them to the ship’s guns. He told interviewers over the years that some of his sailors were praying and crying when they heard the gunshots overhead.
“I felt scared because I didn’t know what was going on,” Fernandez told The Associated Press in an interview weeks before his death.
Fernandez’s ship, the Curtiss, lost 21 men and nearly 60 of its sailors were wounded. The bombing killed more than 2,300 US servicemen. Nearly half, or 1,177, were sailors and Marines aboard the USS Arizona, which sank during the war.
“We’ve lost a lot of good people, you know. They didn’t do anything,” said Fernandez. “But we never know what will happen in war.”
Fernandez had planned to return to Pearl Harbor last week to attend the annual memorial service held by the Navy and the National Park Service but was unable to make the trip, Guthrie said.
He was “proud” of his six years in the Navy, all aboard the USS Curtiss, Guthrie said. Most of his everyday clothes, such as hats and shirts, were related to his work.
“It was really ingrained in him,” his nephew said.
Fernandez worked as a forklift driver at a cannery in San Leandro, California, after the war. His wife of 65 years, Mary Fernandez, died in 2014.
He enjoyed music and dancing, and until recently attended weekly concerts in the park and restaurant. He helped neighbors in his trailer park take care of their yards until he moved in with Guthrie last year.
“I was doing yard work and chopping wood and he was lifting the ax a little bit,” Guthrie said.
Fernandez’s advice for living a long life included stopping eating when you are full and going up the stairs. He said it was good to sleep, but you should do the laundry or wash the dishes before going to bed. He encouraged to be kind to everyone.
Guthrie said he thinks Fernandez would like to be remembered for bringing people joy.
“He would tear up people’s yards when they couldn’t do it. He would paint the fence. He would help someone,” said Guthrie. “He gave money to people if they needed anything. He was so generous and kind. He made friends everywhere.”
Fernandez is survived by his eldest son, Robert J. Fernandez, a grandson and several great-grandchildren.
There are 16 known Pearl Harbor survivors still alive, according to a list kept by Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. They are all about 100 years old.
Fernandez’s death would have brought the number to 15, but Farley recently learned of another survivor.