President Bush to meet Pearl Harbor survivors

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

The White House has invited survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor to meet President Bush during an expected visit Thursday to the USS Arizona Memorial.

President Bush is expected to visit the USS Arizona Memorial on Thursday, as well as a Honolulu school. Advertiser library photo

The president is expected to arrive sometime Thursday morning and local Republican leaders have said Bush will attend a fund-raiser for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign committee that evening in Waikiki before flying home. He is also expected to visit a Honolulu school.

Officials would say little about visiting the Arizona Memorial.

"I can't say anything for security reasons," said Doug Lentz, superintendent for the memorial.

But the president's advance team has been busy with National Park Service and local Navy officials, coordinating plans, said park spokesman Brad Baker.

It is possible that the memorial visit may temporarily halt tourist visits to the national shrine at Pearl Harbor.

"We don't know what the impact will be quite yet," Baker said. "They are still deciding on places and times."

This will be Bush's first visit to Hawai'i since he became president and the first time a sitting president has been to the Islands since Bill Clinton had a brief layover on the Big Island in November 2000 on his way to Vietnam.

Clinton made several trips to Hawai'i during his two terms in office. The most memorable was a rest-and-recreation stay in 1996 when he and daughter Chelsea ate at a Zippy's restaurant in Hawai'i Kai and at the Waimanalo McDonald's.

Ray Emory, a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack, said he was asked last week to gather 10 survivors, including himself, to meet President Bush. Advertiser library photo

Ray Emory, an 82-year-old survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack and historian for the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, said he was asked last week to gather 10 survivors, including himself, to meet President Bush. He was also called yesterday by the state Office of Veterans Affairs to find five survivors to attend a wreath laying at the battleship USS Missouri.

It won't be the first time Emory has met a Bush president. Emory met Bush's father at the Pearl Harbor ceremonies.

In fact, Emory was seated between the president's parents for the ceremony. At the time, Emory kept looking at the names on the chairs before taking his place, he said.

"I had to look at it three times to make sure I was seeing it right," Emory said. "I decided I better sit down and keep my mouth shut."

Fellow survivor Herb Weatherwax said he's excited about the chance to meet Bush. The 86-year-old Kailua resident had to submit information for a security screening, but hasn't heard from the White House.

He wants to meet the president, though.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "I'd like to do that. I'm just sitting here, waiting for the call."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.