2 Pearl Harbor survivors, ages 104 and 102, return to Hawaii to honor those killed in 1941 attack

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Ira “Ike” Schab, a 104-year-old Pearl Harbor attack survivor, was so determined to stand and salute during a remembrance ceremony honoring those killed in the Japanese bombing that thrust the U.S. into World War II some 83 years ago that he spent six weeks in physical therapy to build the strength to do so.

On Saturday, Schab gingerly rose from his wheelchair and raised his right hand, returning a salute delivered by sailors on a destroyer and a submarine passing by in the harbor. His son and a daughter supported him from either side.

“I was honored to do it. I’m glad I was capable of standing up,” he said afterward. “I’m getting old, you know.”

Schab is one of only two servicemen who lived through the attack who made it to an annual observance hosted by the U.S. Navy and National Park Service on a grass field overlooking the harbor. A third survivor had been planning to join them but had to cancel because of health issues.

The Dec. 7, 1941, bombing killed more than 2,300 U.S. servicemen. Nearly half, or 1,177, were sailors and Marines on board the USS Arizona, which sank during the battle. The remains of more than 900 Arizona crew members are still entombed on the submerged vessel.

Dozens of survivors once joined the event but their attendance has declined as survivors have aged. Today there are only 16 still living, according to a list maintained by Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. Military historian J. Michael Wenger has estimated there were some 87,000 military personnel on Oahu on the day of the attack.

Schab agreed when ceremony organizers asked him earlier this year to salute on behalf of all survivors and World War II veterans.

“He’s been working hard, because this is his goal,” said his daughter Kimberlee Heinrichs, who traveled to Hawaii with Schab from their Beaverton, Oregon, home. “He wanted to be able to stand for that.”

Schab was a sailor on the USS Dobbin at the time of the attack, serving as the tuba player in the ship's band. He had showered and put on a clean uniform when he heard the call for a fire rescue party.

He hurried topside to see Japanese planes flying overhead and the USS Utah capsizing. He quickly went back below deck to join a daisy chain of sailors feeding shells to an anti-aircraft gun topside.

Ken Stevens, 102, who served on the USS Whitney, joined Schab at the ceremony. USS Curtiss sailor Bob Fernandez, 100, was unable to come due to health issues.

Attendees observed a moment of silence at 7:54 a.m., the same time the attack began eight decades ago. F-22 jets in missing man formation flew overhead shortly after.

Fernandez, speaking in a phone interview from California, where he lives with his nephew in Lodi, recalled feeling shocked and surprised as the attack began.

“When those things go off like that, we didn’t know what’s what,” Fernandez said. “We didn’t even know we were in a war.”

Fernandez was a mess cook on the Curtiss and his job that morning was to bring sailors coffee and food as he waited tables during breakfast. Then they heard an alarm sound. Through a porthole, Fernandez saw a plane with the red ball insignia painted on Japanese aircraft fly by.

Fernandez rushed down three decks to a magazine room where he and other sailors waited for someone to unlock a door storing 5-inch (12.7-centimeter), 38-caliber shells so they could begin passing them to the ship's guns.

He has told interviewers over the years that some of his fellow sailors were praying and crying as they heard gunfire up above.

“I felt kind of scared because I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” Fernandez said.

The ship's guns hit a Japanese plane that crashed into one of its cranes. Shortly after, its guns hit a dive bomber that then slammed into the ship and exploded below deck, setting the hangar and main decks on fire, according to the Navy History and Heritage Command.

Fernandez's ship, the Curtiss, lost 21 men and nearly 60 of its sailors were injured.

Many laud Pearl Harbor survivors as heroes, but Fernandez doesn’t view himself that way.

“I’m not a hero,” he said. “I’m just nothing but an ammunition passer.”

Associated Press journalist Terry Chea contributed from Lodi, California.

Servicemen and Park Service rangers present wreathes during the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

U.S. Navy Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Adm. Stephen T. "Web" Koehler speaks during the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Sailors aboard the USS Carl M. Levin render honors while passing the USS Arizona Memorial and the sunken battleship the USS Arizona during the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

U.S. Marines perform a rifle salute before a Navy bugler plays taps during the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Pearl Harbor survivor Ira "Ike" Schab, 104, from Beaverton, Ore., center, salutes as he leaves the stand during the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

World War II veterans bow their heads during a prayer for the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

The USS Arizona Memorial is seen before a ceremony to mark the 83rd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Pearl Harbor survivor Ira "Ike" Schab, left, talks to his son, retired Navy Cmdr. Karl Schab before the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Ira "Ike" Schab, 104, from Beaverton, Ore., who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor as a sailor on the USS Dobbin, right, talks with Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Quoc Vu after the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Ira

Ken Stevens, 102, of Powers, Ore., who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor talks to the media before the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Ken Stevens, 102, of Powers, Ore., who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor shakes hand with a park ranger before the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Pearl Harbor survivors, Ken Stevens, 102, of Powers, Ore., left, and Ira "Ike" Schab, 104, of Beaverton, Ore., wait for the start of the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Pearl Harbor survivors Ken Stevens, 102, of Powers, Ore., left, and Ira "Ike" Schab, 104, from Beaverton, Ore., talk to attendees after the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Pearl Harbor survivor Ira "Ike" Schab, 104, from Beaverton, Ore., looks at a photo presented by an attendee after the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Pearl Harbor survivor Ira "Ike" Schab, 104, from Beaverton, Ore., center, stand by his son, retired Navy Cmdr. Karl Schab, and daughter, retired Air Force veteran to salute behalf of all the Pearl Harbor survivors during the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Pearl Harbor survivors, Ken Stevens, 102, of Powers, Ore., second from the left, and Ira "Ike" Schab, 104, of Beaverton, Ore., wait before the start of the 83rd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

FILE - In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the destroyer USS Shaw explodes after being hit by bombs during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. (U.S. Navy via AP, File)

The USS Curtiss is seen underway at sea, 1954. (Naval History and Heritage Command via AP)

Pearl Harbor Navy veteran Bob Fernandez poses for a photograph with medals from his military service, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Lodi, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Navy veteran Bob Fernandez talks about being aboard the USS Curtiss during the Pearl Harbor attack, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Lodi, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Pearl Harbor Navy veteran Bob Fernandez is photographed at home Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Lodi, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Pearl Harbor Navy veteran Bob Fernandez smiles while being photographed at home Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Lodi, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Navy veteran Bob Fernandez hods a photograph of the USS Curtiss, in which he served during the Pearl Harbor attack, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Lodi, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A new Tennessee law has eased up on two longstanding financial hurdles for people with felony sentences who want their voting rights back, including a unique requirement among states that they must have fully paid their child support costs.

The Republican-supermajority Legislature approved the Democratic-sponsored change, which now lets people prove they have complied for the last year with child support orders, such as payment plans. The legislation also unties the payment of all court costs from voting rights restoration.

Advocates for years have sought various changes to Tennessee’s voting rights restoration system at the statehouse and in court. They say loosening these two rules marks the biggest rollback of restrictions to voting rights restoration in decades.

“This is huge and this is history,” said Keeda Haynes, senior attorney for the advocacy group Free Hearts led by formerly incarcerated women like her.

Most Republicans voted for it and Democrats supported it unanimously. The law took effect immediately upon Republican Gov. Bill Lee's signature last week.

“I think people are at a point where they want to just remove the barriers out of the way and allow people to be fully functional members of society,” said Democratic House Minority Leader Karen Camper, a bill sponsor.

In 2023 and early 2024, the state shelved a paperwork process that didn’t require going to court and decided gun rights were required to restore the right to vote. Election officials said a court ruling made the changes necessary, though voting rights advocates said officials misinterpreted the order.

Last year, lawmakers untangled voting and gun rights. But voting rights advocates opposed some of the bill's other provisions, such as keeping the process in the courts, where costs can rack up if someone isn't ruled indigent.

Easing up on the financial requirements uncommonly split legislative Republicans. For instance, Senate Speaker Randy McNally voted against it, while House Speaker Cameron Sexton supported it, noting that people aren't getting forgiveness on making their payments.

“They need to continue paying that, and as long as they do, then there’s a possibility (to restore their voting rights)," Sexton said. "I really think that’s harder for people to argue against than maybe what something else was.”

Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett, who voted no, said in committee his vote would hinge on whether “there still can be an (child support) arrearage owed beyond that 12 months.”

For some, backed-up child support payments could reach hundreds or thousands of dollars, and court costs could be hundreds or thousands more, said Gicola Lane, Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote community partnership senior manager.

Advocates credited their narrowed focus, omitting goals such as automatic restoration of rights, no longer tying restitution payments to voting rights, or offering a path for certain people to restore their right who are permanently disenfranchised, including those convicted of voter fraud or most murder charges.

The bill passed the Senate last year and the House this year.

Lawmakers gave the child support requirement final passage in 2006 within an overhaul bill that also created a voting rights restoration process outside of court. Critics said the child support rule penalized impoverished parents.

Democrats were then narrowly hanging onto legislative leadership in both chambers. Republicans held a slim Senate majority but GOP defectors voted for a Democratic speaker.

Last year marked the dismissal of a nearly five-year-old federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s voting-rights restoration system. Free Hearts and the Campaign Legal Center represented plaintiffs in the long-delayed case, which saw some election policy changes along the way.

Roughly 184,000 people have completed supervision for felonies and their offenses don't preclude them from restoring their voting rights, according to a plaintiffs expert’s 2023 estimate in the lawsuit. About one in 10 were estimated to have outstanding child support payments, and more than six in 10 owed court courts, restitution or both, the expert said.

Both Republican and Democratic-led states have eased the voting rights restoration process in recent years. Some states have added complexities.

In Florida, after voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions, the Republican-controlled Legislature watered that down by requiring payment of fines, fees and court costs.

Voting rights are automatically restored upon release in nearly half of states. In 15 others, it occurs after parole, probation or a similar period and sometimes requires paying outstanding court costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Maine and Vermont, people with felonies keep their voting rights in prison, the NCSL says.

Ten other states including Tennessee require additional government action. Virginia ’s governor must intervene to restore voting rights of people convicted of felonies. In some states, including Tennessee, certain conviction types render someone ineligible.

However, Virginia lawmakers this year have passed a proposed state constitutional amendment to ask voters whether they want automatic voting rights restoration after someone is released from prison. Kentucky lawmakers have proposed a similar change for voters' consideration that would automatically restore voting rights after certain completed sentences, including probation.

FILE - The Tennessee Capitol is seen, Jan. 22, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)