LEONARD YOUKER HAD JUST SERVED HIS USS NEVADA SHIPMATES BREAKFAST ON DECEMBER 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor:

“My job was to transfer the ammunition to turret No. 3,� said Youker, now an 86-year old Stanton resident and a member of Lester J. Sitts Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 5065 in Sheridan. “We were supposed to load ammunition that day and didn’t have any. We couldn’t shoot back.

“We couldn’t go topside until we received the call it was secure from general quarters,� he said. “We were below deck about three hours.�

The article says that there are only about 30 Pearl Harbor survivors left in Michigan. If you know one of them, why not spend a bit of time asking them about it?

For more info on the USS Nevada's attempted run from the harbor during the attack, see my December 7th post from last year: "This is not a drill!"