Bob Fernandez, a 100-year-old survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died shortly after he missed a trip to Hawaii to attend last week's memorial service marking the 83rd anniversary of the attack due to declining health. .
Fernandez died peacefully on Wednesday at the home of his nephew, Joe Guthrie, in Lodi, California. Guthrie's daughter, Haley Torrell, was holding his hand as he took his last breath. Fernandez suffered a stroke about a month ago and had slowed down, but Guthrie said doctors attributed his symptoms to age.
“That was his time,” Guthrie said.
Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor aboard the USS Curtis during the Dec. 17, 1941 attack that propelled the United States into World War II. The cook was waiting tables and bringing the sailors their morning coffee and food when he heard the alarm. Through the porthole, Fernandez saw a plane flying by, bearing the famous red ball insignia that appears on Japanese aircraft.
He ran down three decks to the magazine room, where he and other sailors were waiting for someone to unlock the door where the shells were stored in order to pass them to the ship's cannons. He has told interviewers over the years that some of his fellow sailors prayed and cried while hearing gunshots overhead.
“I didn't know what was going on and I was a little scared,” Fernandez told The Associated Press in an interview a few weeks before his death.
Fernandez's ship lost 21 men and nearly 60 of his crew were injured. The bombing killed more than 2,300 U.S. military personnel. Almost half of the 1,177 people on board the USS Arizona, which sank during the battle, were sailors and Marines.
“We lost a lot of good people. It's not like they did nothing,” Fernandez said. “But in war you never know what will happen.”
Fernandez was scheduled to return to Pearl Harbor last week to attend an annual commemoration ceremony hosted by the Navy and the National Park Service, but his health was too weak to make the visit, Guthrie said.
Guthrie said he was “very proud” of his six years in the Navy, all of which were spent aboard the USS Curtiss. Most of his personal clothing was related to his service, such as his hat and shirt.
“It was completely ingrained in him,” his nephew said.
After the war, Fernandez worked as a forklift driver at a cannery in San Leandro, California. His wife of 65 years, Mary Fernandez, passed away in 2014.
He loves music and dancing and until recently attended weekly musical performances at local parks and restaurants. He helped neighbors at the trailer park with their yards before moving into the Guthrie home last year.
“When I worked in the garden or chopped firewood, he would swing the ax a little bit,” Guthrie said. “We call it his physical therapy.”
Fernandez's advice for living longer included stopping eating when you're full and marching up the stairs. He said it's OK to take a nap, but it's OK to do things like laundry or dishes before bed. He encouraged everyone to be kind.
Guthrie said Fernandez will want to be remembered for bringing joy to people.
“He would rake people's yards if they couldn't do it. He would paint the fence. He would help someone,” Guthrie said. “He gave people money if they needed something. He was a very generous and very kind person. He made friends everywhere.”
Fernandez is survived by his eldest son, Robert J. Fernandez, a granddaughter, and several great-grandchildren.
There are 16 known survivors of Pearl Harbor, according to a list maintained by Kathleen Farley, California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. They are all at least 100 years old.
Fernandez's death would have brought that number to 15, but Farley recently learned there were more survivors.
