WATSONVILLE — Corralitos resident Phil Gilman III was 16 months old when Japanese planes began to drop bombs just down the street from his house.
As such, he does not remember the attack that began the Unites States’ involvement in World War II.
What he does remember – and holds dear – is a legacy of family military service that starts with his grandfather. Phil Gilman the first served in the Spanish-American War and World War I as a surgeon.
Gilman’s grandfather and father served together during WWII on the USS Haven, a hospital ship built for the U.S. Navy.
Gilman was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, and later served in Korea.
He came to the annual Pearl Harbor Survivors meeting Thursday, joining a shrinking but steadfast group of people dedicated to preserving the memories of that era and honoring the people who have died.
“I’m a survivor of the event,” he said.
The gathering at the California Grill has become a South County tradition for Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, there were an estimated 623,653 WWII veterans alive as of Oct. 31, with about 400 dying every day.
Gilman’s wife Diana Gilman is not a veteran. But her father, a Navy man, served aboard the USS Kalinin Bay, a Casablanca class escort carrier during WWII.
According to Gilman, her father remembered working in the control tower during the Philippines campaign, ordering the planes to either land on the carrier or “ditch” the planes in the ocean, depending on how damaged they were.
Keeping the memories of the killed service members, she said, is essential.
“We need to remember these people, so they didn’t die in vain,” she said. “We’re free because they fought for us.”
Ray Burgess, 92, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, which was the last major German offensive of WWII. Just 18, Burgess survived a bullet to the leg, and later returned to duty, reaching the rank of Sergeant.
Burgess is a happy, smiling man who brags that the “Ike jacket” he wore then still fits him.
He said he returned to the area of the battle in Germany and Belgium in 1985. There, he visited the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial, where nearly 8,000 American servicemen are buried.
“I stopped, saluted and said, ‘you guys did a nice job,’” he said. “‘The war is over. Rest in peace.’”
