The last remaining Pearl Harbor survivor from Nevada has passed away in his sleep at the age of 99.
Edward ‘Ed’ Hall, 99, died at North Las Vegas VA Medical Center early Wednesday morning, his friend Greg Mannarino confirmed.
Mr. Hall was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was just 18 years old when 2,403 Americans died in Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Army private previously recalled walking outside the Hickam Field mess hall when the sounds of a full-blown attack took over the base.
“There was shooting going on like you wouldn’t believe. I’m still amazed I didn’t get hurt,” Hall said in an interview decades after barely escaping with his life.
While taking cover from the ongoing barrage, Hall witnessed the moment USS Arizona was struck and 1,177 Marines and sailors were killed.
In 1946, Ed was discharged from the Army. After his return home, he tried to continue his studies but found himself rejected. He later married and landed a job as an elevator installer. He kept the job for 40 years before retiring in 1994.
On Wednesday, Ed passed away in peace at his hospital just moments after telling his friend that he loved him.
“He passed away peacefully in his sleep. He joked with the nurses last night. Before I left he said ‘I love you.’ He seemed still full of life,” Mannarino said.
“The doctor told me that ‘When we went to check on him, he was unresponsive.’ I just fell over completely. He was the greatest guy, from the greatest generation. Those men were cut from a different cloth.”
Hall previously expressed his fears for the future in a 2020 interview in which he said the future generations would forget all about Pearl Harbor as he warned that history could repeat itself one day.
“It’ll be forgotten, just like the Civil War, or the Spanish American War,” he said.
“This country better wake up or it’s going to happen again, that nobody will pay attention to the warning signs, like that day of December 7, 1941.”
Our hearts go out to Ed’s family and friends during this tragic time.