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Pearl Harbor survivor Ken Schubring enlisted when he was just 17.
“Everything seemed to lean toward that being in the cards sooner rather than later,” the 103-year-old told WANF-TV this week, days ahead of the anniversary of the 1941 attack. “So not much of a decision to be made.”
Schubring ended his guard duty on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, then went to eat.
“I went to eat breakfast after my duty and shortly before 8 a.m., an explosion shook our bunkers,” he said at a Veterans Day ceremony at the National WWII Museum this year, according to Spirit America. “Everyone rushed outside.”
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The USS Arizona burns during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. (U.S. Navy/Newsmakers)
“The sky was full of airplanes, dive bombers,” he continued. “I hit the deck, crawled to a ditch nearby… and stayed there until the first wave had finished.”
In another interview, Schubring told CBS News that despite his age, the attack was something he “can’t forget.”
And as one of just 13 Pearl Harbor survivors remaining alive as the 84th anniversary of the assault approaches on Sunday, he’s a rarity.
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Aerial view of the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
His son, Ken Schubring Jr., told CBS he wants Americans to remember the “sacrifice” of those who experienced Pearl Harbor.
“I mean, the sacrifice that was given that day and then, subsequently years later, I mean, you can’t put a price on that. You can’t forget it,” he said.
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn said it was a “pleasure” to help Schubring get to the WWII Museum ceremony last month.
“God bless the veterans who have served our country so courageously,” she wrote on X last month. “It was a pleasure to help WWII Veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor Ken Schubring Sr. get to this ceremony so that he could be honored for all that he has sacrificed for our nation.”
After Pearl Harbor, Schubring became a flight engineer on B-29 bombers, flying missions in the Pacific.
“We’d fly straight over Iwo Jima or around it to our targets,” he told WANF. “The bombings were individual bombings.”
An explosion at the Naval Air Station, Ford Island, Pearl Harbor during the attack. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
Schubring still remembers where he was when he heard the Japanese had surrendered.
“About two hours into our return from a bombing raid over Osaka … the radio announced Emperor Hirohito had asked for an armistice,” he told the station. “The war was over.”
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Even after he left the military, Schubring continued to fight for justice, working for racial school integration in Athens, Georgia, where he was school board president.
“I remember getting called a lot of bad things, but my dad never wavered,” his son told CBS of the at-the-time controversial policy.