Posted at 11:16 a.m., Tuesday, December 4, 2001

Aging USS Arizona vets get rousing welcome

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

USS Arizona survivor Ed Wentzlaff returns the salute of a sailor at today's ceremony at the Arizona memorial. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

With crisp salutes, a brass band and lei, the Navy welcomed survivors of the USS Arizona today as they returned to visit the memorial of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Twenty survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack are in Hawai'i to mark the 60th anniversary of the bombing. They visited the memorial today, their first stop, to pay their respects to the 1,177 shipmates who were killed that Sunday morning.

Nearly 200 sailors lined the entryway to the memorial's visitor center to salute the survivors and several hundred friends and family members who made the trip. The applause was nearly continuous as they arrived.

"It's exhilarating," said Clyde Combs, an 81-year-old Arizona survivor from Pompano Beach, Fla. "It's real good. We didn't expect this."

Rear Adm. Robert T. Conway Jr., commander of Navy Region Hawaii, greeted the survivors, whom he called "all my heroes." Conway likened the Pearl Harbor bombing to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He pointed to the Arizona, "which represents the nation with its guard down," and pointed to the battleship Missouri, "which is the answer, the nation's resolve."

"These colors do not run," Conway said. "And I assure you that your legacy will be taken on by the men and women in uniform."

Combs' son-in-law, Ron Hoeksema, of Ridgeway, Colo., called this "a nostalgic event." He couldn't believe Combs made the trip.

"He keeps coming, each time," Hoeksema said. "He was here five years ago. They still hold these memories, even though it was a long time ago."