The Cupertino Courier

Photograph by George Sakkestad

WWII veteran Frank Hanley keeps several remembrances from the war, including this photo of his ship, the USS Phoenix.

Veterans say holiday is a day to remember

By Dwana Bain

On Nov. 11, 1918, leaves were burning, whistles were blowing and horns were honking. The war was over.

That's how Frank Hanley remembers his first Armistice Day--he was 5 years old and watching the celebration from a streetcar as he passed through Sulpulpa, Okla.

"I knew they were celebrating something, I just didn't know what it was," said Hanley, a Pearl Harbor survivor, who only later came to recognize the significance of the holiday.

This past Nov. 11, Veterans Day may have been celebrated with less fanfare, but Hanley and other Cupertino veterans were doing their part to ensure that veterans from any of the nation's wars won't be forgotten.

Hanley's wife, Irene, said that many people no longer recognize the significance of Veterans Day. "All they think about is that they get the day off," she said. She attributes this to the fact that children today don't have many family members that served in war.

In December 1941, Hanley's ship, the USS Phoenix, pulled into the harbor for what the crew thought would be several weeks of rest and relaxation. On Dec. 7, Hanley was changing his uniform for church when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and ships around him exploded and rolled over. More than a thousand men died on the USS Arizona as Hanley watched. "I could see the Arizona. I didn't hear anything, just saw reddish-black clouds floating out of it."

His ship was lucky. The USS Phoenix never lost a man.

Hanley and his wife have assembled an album of snapshots and memoirs from his career in the service. "U.S. Navy" and "Pearl Harbor Survivor" plaques adorn a side window of his home. A "Pearl Harbor Survivor" license plate is on his car.

The mementos mean a lot to him.

"Maybe I'm a little proud of my service and what part I've played in my country. I think it's the best country in the world. I've been to a lot of other countries and see how much better off we are."

The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association is fading away as its members die off--a subject Hanley speaks about matter-of-factly. While some try to keep the group going by recruiting sons and daughters of current members, the Hanleys say second-generation members lack the commitment to the group that their parents had.

Cupertino resident and Air Force veteran John Rock hopes that memories of past wars and old soldiers don't die along with the veterans.

"There won't be any veterans to tell the stories," Rock said.

Rock said he worries that more recent wars, such as those in Korean and Vietnam, will eventually be forgotten because of their unpopularity.

Another lesson Rock said he hopes to teach children is that although war is sometimes necessary, it isn't fun. "War is not a good thing. It is a bad thing, something to be avoided. Just because things are a little more convenient now doesn't mean we should rush into war. That's the best lesson they can learn."

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