What:

The U.S. Postal Service will celebrate the 105th birthday of Raymond B. Chavez, oldest living Pearl Harbor Survivor.

Chavez will be presented with a large birthday card that will be available for signature at Thursday’s event. The card will be sent to Washington DC and placed on a Memorial Day Parade float, which will also feature Mr. Chavez.

Who:

Raymond Chavez, Pearl Harbor Survivor
Richard Rovsek, Spirit of Liberty Foundation, Inc.
Steve Vaus, Mayor of Poway
Connie Sallee, Postmaster of Poway

When:

Thursday, May 25, 2017
11:00 a.m.

Where:

Poway Post Office
13308 Midland Road
Poway CA 92064

Background:

Raymond Chavez was born in San Bernardino, California on March 10th, 1912.
Soon after his family moved to San Diego.  Raymond was unable to finish high school because he had to go to work to help support his family. He worked as a gardener.

He joined the Naval Reserve in 1937 and was called up for active duty in 1939. He was stationed in San Diego and assigned to a minesweeper. Mine sweepers were fishing boats of the Navy, painted gray and converted with minesweeping equipment. There were four which were all sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His duty was sweeping the harbor for enemy mines.

On December 7, 1941 at 3:45 am he and his crew spotted a periscope in restricted waters. This was one of the five Japanese mini-subs which were trying to sneak into the harbor to plant bombs on the big ships. The minesweeper boats were not equipped with defensive weapons. They radioed the USS Ward to come and drop depth charges.

He went home after his shift at 6:00 a.m. While outside, his wife noticed an airplane flying very low over the houses. Realizing it was a foreign plane, she ran inside the house shouting “We’re being attacked!” When Ray ran outside to see what she was talking about, he saw the harbor on fire and black smoke billowing up. He immediately returned to his ship and his job.

After the attack, when things went back to “normal,” he requested to be assigned to another ship. He was then assigned to the USS La Sala, a troop transport ship and participated in eight battle campaigns until the end of the war in 1945.

After the war he received an Honorable Discharge and returned to San Diego to be with family and continued to be a gardener/landscaper.

For fifty years he did not talk about his experiences, but then came to peace with it all and today he can now tell his story.