Ray Chavez, the oldest military survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died on Nov. 21, 2018. He was 106 years old.
Chavez was a Navy veteran. He had been ill with pneumonia and passed away in his sleep in San Diego.
For Memorial Day 2018, Chavez went to Washington, D.C., where President Trump publicly honored him for his military service.
“We were saddened to hear the oldest living Pearl Harbor veteran, Ray Chavez, has passed away at the age of 106,” reads a tweet from the White House about Chavez’s death. “We were honored to host him at the White House earlier this year. Thank you for your service to our great nation, Ray!”
On Dec. 7, 1941, Chavez was aboard the USS Condor.
The ship was patrolling a section of Pearl Harbor. When he and his fellow crewmen saw the periscope of a Japanese submarine, they sent word to a destroyer, which was able to sink the submarine before the attack began.
He was not present for the actual attack. After working an all-night shift, Chavez went back home and laid down to sleep. He was woken by his wife, Margaret, who told him that Japanese soldiers had arrived, and they were under attack.
By the time Chavez got there, Pearl Harbor was on fire.
He spent days working around the clock to help clear the damage. Then, he was assigned to transport troops, weapons, and equipment around the Pacific.
“Spending time with Pearl Harbor veteran Ray Chavez was humbling and enlightening,” reads a tweet from Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway about Chavez’s death. “Condolences to his daughter, Kathleen, family, and friends, on his passing.”
Chavez was already married when he joined the Navy in 1938 at the age of 27.
After leaving the military, he became a groundskeeper at the University of California San Diego for 30 years. After that, he started his own landscaping business, where he continued to work until he retired at the age of 96.
Chavez’s daughter, Kathleen, said her father was always dismissive about his service in the military, saying he was simply doing what he was supposed to do. But at the time of his death, Chavez still remembered the day of the attack and mourned the loss of his comrades.
“I still feel a loss,” Chavez said at ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the attack. “We were all together. We were friends and brothers. I feel close to all of them.”
After the attack, Chavez suffered from PTSD.
He had anxiety and often found himself shaking. He dealt with his mental health issues by working outside in nature and landscaping, an interest he inherited from his parents, who ran a flower shop during his childhood. He also focused on his physical health, emphasizing a healthy diet and exercise regime that he kept up until the end of his life.
“He loved trees and he dearly loved plants, and he knew everything about a plant or tree that you could possibly want to know,” Kathleen said.
Chavez left the Navy in 1945.
However, he didn’t talk about his experiences at Pearl Harbor until the 1990s, when he started to attend memorial events. On a whim, he decided to attend the 50th-anniversary memorial services in Hawaii.
After that, he returned every five years. And then, every year. But he always emphasized that the memorials were for those who had died — not for him.
“He’d just shrug his shoulders and shake his head and say, ‘I was just doing my job,’” Kathleen recalled. “He was just a very nice, quiet man. He never hollered about anything, and he was always pleasant to everybody.”
Chavez was born in 1912 to Mexican immigrant parents in San Bernardino.
He spent most of his life in San Diego. He’s survived by his daughter, Kathleen, having lost another daughter, along with a son-in-law and granddaughter, in a car accident.
He passed his love of the military down to his daughter. Kathleen served in the Navy for two decades, making waves as one of the first woman jet engine mechanics. She’s lived with her father since 1961.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, left enormous devastation.
Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes devastated the harbor, laying waste to 20 American naval vessels and more than 300 airplanes.
The attack killed 2,403 military members and civilians. Another 1,000 people were injured. For Americans, Pearl Harbor was the defining moment of their step into the Second World War. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
For the people who experienced it, the Pearl Harbor attack was terrifying. Bombs hit naval ships and sank them with military crew members trapped inside. The attack started just after 8 a.m. on a peaceful Sunday morning and lasted about two hours.
More than 75 years later, Ray Chavez still remembered that morning and grieved for the friends he lost. But he was also proud to have been part of it.
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