– Finally, it has been 84 years since Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, killing more than 2,400 troops. In Honolulu, no survivors attended today’s remembrance ceremony. There are only 12 still alive, all of them over 100 years old.
The attack launched the United States into World War II. In tonight’s Weekend Journal, CBS’s John Lauritsen met a veteran who was present at the Allied victory four years later.
DEL THIELKE: I tell you, I joined the Navy when I was a senior in high school.
JOHN LAURITSEN: And as soon as he graduated in 1942, Dell Thielke began a journey that put him in the middle of World War II. He was trained in aviation ordnance and found himself on an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific.
– Loading airplanes with bombs, rockets, and machine gun bullets.
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JOHN LAURITSEN: For more than four years, he was at war and at sea, rarely leaving the ship.
– We took back 16 islands. all the way to Tokyo, that’s the whole South Pacific.
JOHN LAURITSEN: When Japan was ready to surrender, Del received more good news. Out of the 1,500 men on his ship–
– Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world.
JOHN LAURITSEN: –he was the only one selected to be aboard the USS Missouri when the peace treaty was signed.
– 80 years ago, and here they were down here signing the peace treaty with Japan. And here’s me, right up here on top.
JOHN LAURITSEN: Del’s white cap can be seen in the upper deck. Recently, he received a letter informing him that a war memorial is being built in New Orleans that recognizes the treaty signing.
The letter informed Del that it’s possible he’s the only person still alive from that picture taken on the USS Missouri.
– I’m the last one that’s living that they could find. Isn’t that something?
JOHN LAURITSEN: He credits his faith as the reason why he’s still able to talk about that historic day, eight decades later.
– I have been a strong Christian all my life and I believe that God was guiding me for four years on that carrier.
DOUGLAS MACARTHUR: The war is over, peace is here.
JOHN LAURITSEN: John Lauritsen, CBS News, Dawson, Minnesota.
– Mr. Del never forgot, and neither should we.