Two “Rosie the Riveters” and a World War II veteran who arrived in Honolulu on December 2, 2022, for events commemorating the 81st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor were greeted by Hawaiian Airlines employees.
Ira “Ike” Schab & Pearl Harbour
Ira “‘Ike'” Schab, a 102-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, was greeted by a Pacific Fleet band and honor guard as he boarded Hawaiian Airlines Flight 25 from Portland. On the morning of the attack that propelled the nation into World War II, Ike was a musician for the United States Navy aboard the USS Dobbin.
The United States Pacific Fleet Band named Ira “Ike” Schab as honorary bandmaster during a Pearl Harbor Visitor Center concert commemorating the anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The band will play a range of music, from military service songs to jazz from the 1930s and 1940s, to honor the Pearl Harbor survivors in attendance.
Marian Wynn and Marian Sousa AKA “Rosie the Riveters” & Pearl Harbor
From Oakland, Marian Wynn and Marian Sousa boarded Hawaiian Flight 47; they were among the six million women who participated in the “Rosie the Riveters” movement and worked during the war. At the Richmond Kaiser Shipyard in California, Wynn was a pipe welder. Sousa was also a member of the yard’s engineering team, which helped plan the transportation of US troops.
Members of Hawaiian Airlines’ Wahine (Women in Aviation Employee Resource Group) gave Wynn and fellow Rosie the Riveter Mae Krier a tour of the carrier’s maintenance hangar last year.
Both women will be honoured at the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Parade, which begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7.
Along with dozens of other employees, John Kim, director of IT field services at Hawaiian Airlines and a member of the company’s Veterans Employee Network, paid tribute to Schab, Wynn, and Sousa.
“Today was a truly heartwarming experience for me,” Kim said. “After 22 years in the United States Air Force, moments like these make me proud to be an American. It was a privilege to be a part of this event because it allows us to reflect. We must remember as Americans because to forget is to dishonour the memory of those who died that day and those who would later die in the defence of liberty and freedom.”
About Pearl Harbour
Japanese forces launched a tragic surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. That Sunday morning, just before 8 a.m., hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the ground, destroying or damaging over 300 aircraft and nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships. Over 2,400 Americans, including civilians, were killed in the attack, and another 1,000 were injured. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that Congress declare war on Japan.
