Another One Leaves Us….
Briefly, Ray Emory, a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, passed away in a hospital in Boise, ID, with family members present.
“Chief Emory fought back that day, manning his machine gun, taking on enemy planes,” Rear Adm. Brian Fort, commander, Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, said at the ceremony honoring Emory. “He continued to fight on throughout the War in the Pacific. He and his buddies, with help from the home front, helped create an unprecedented era of peace, stability and prosperity. Victory at the end of World War II was Ray’s finest hour.”
During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Emory managed to fire a few rounds at the airplanes that dropped the torpedoes. He still had an empty bullet casing that fell to his ship deck.
Chief Emory pushed the VA and the government to identify the remains of servicemen from the USS Oklahoma, who were buried as “unknowns” in a national cemetery in Hawaii. He met with rebuff and was sometimes told where to go, but he stuck to his guns and insisted that at least one casket be exhumed and the remains identified. His doing so started the ball rolling on the DPAA’s current project to identify the missing from WWII on up through Vietnam.
Fair winds and following seas, Chief. See you on the other side.
Category: Feel Good Stories, No Longer Missing
Hand Salute- Ready, Two!
“Chief Emory pushed the VA and the government to identify the remains of servicemen from the USS Oklahoma, who were buried as “unknowns” in a national cemetery in Hawaii. He met with rebuff and was sometimes told where to go, but he stuck to his guns..”
Despite these obstacles, Chief Emory cared enough to help bring closure to the Families of his fellow comrades.
Rest In Peace, Chief Emory.
Rest in peace Chief. God bless your family.
“In 2003, the military agreed to dig up a casket that Emory was convinced, after meticulously studying records, included the remains of multiple USS Oklahoma servicemen. Emory was right, and five sailors were identified.
It helped lay the foundation for the Pentagon’s decision more than a decade later to exhume and attempt to identify all 388 sailors and Marines from the USS Oklahoma who had been buried as unknowns in a national cemetery in Honolulu.”
Emory is the personification of “Never forget.” His tenacity continues to bear fruit to this day, something that idiot admiral seems to have overlooked. I don’t wonder why when one solitary sailor takes on the bureaucracy. The idiot admiral must have spent 20 or 30n seconds preparing his little speech. Said he, “[Emory] and his buddies, with help from the home front, helped create an unprecedented era of peace, stability and prosperity. Victory at the end of World War II was Ray’s finest hour.” Unprecedented era of peace? Someone mention Korea to that guy. Happened less than five years after VJ Day. And “Ray’s finest hour?” First, he’s not Ray to you and, second, that “finest hour” use is grand theft.
So, a salute to Ray Emory and a middle finger to the idiot admiral.
I know it is not universal, but isn’t “idiot admiral” or “idiot general” often redundant?
Never, never, never, never give up. A good and faithful NCO was Chief Emory.
“About 77 have been reburied, many in their hometowns, bringing closure to families across the country”
Godspeed and God bless you, Chief. I only hope we can live up to the standard you set.
Classic example of what one tenacious individual can do. Classic example of the never give up (HT to Sgt Bob) there is always another option get the job done NCO. Classic example of a self centered egotistical admiral that should ESAD. What happened to an officer looks to the welfare of his troops? God Speed and Fare Well Chief Emory.
BZ Chief and rest in peace, you deserve it!
Rest in Peace.
Ray Emory was a colleague and friend of mine back in the late 1980s when he was serving as a volunteer at the USS ARIZONA Memorial and I had taken an NPS temporary position there as a museum specialist after leaving active duty.
Even back then, Ray was always pushing and pushing against the Navy and NPS brass to do more for the honored dead and the survivors, and periodically getting into hot water with the powers-to-be. I worked in that NPS position for only a year before I returned to the mainland, but I never forgot about Ray and his efforts to honor the dead and the living.
Ray is now gone, along with all the other Pearl Harbor attack survivors who worked as volunteers at the USS ARIZONA Memorial when I was there.
God Bless them all, and may they all Rest in Peace…
Thanks for the infor, CH. He did a very good thing, that needed to be done.
CH Thanks. Our High School Principal Mr. Fred Johnson was a PH Survivor. Am digging around to see if he is still alive. Article in the paper 2 years ago had him @ 100 and doing fairly well. Served through out the war on the Hornet(?) and was recalled for Korea. Was a fair but firm principle, very humble and unpretentious. We need more school admin folks like him. Will try to dig around some more but again, my www skills are limited/laughable. jc nsnr