ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando's Pearl Harbor Survivors Association has only two members now.
- Friday was 77th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor
- 2,335 American servicemen were killed, 1,143 wounded
- The attack precipitated America's entry into World War II
- INTERACTIVE: Explore what happened in the Pearl Harbor attack in an interactive story map from the Naval History and Heritage Command
Donald Kaup, 102, was a machinist's mate aboard the USS Medusa when the Japanese attacked the Navy base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
Jack Colby, 96, was an Army private eating breakfast when the attack happened. The next day, he helped pull the living and the dead from the harbor.
"The next day was Hell day," Colby said, "because they picked everybody up that could walk and put them in boats to go out and clean up the harbors, because they were full of bodies and full of sailors flailing around trying to get to shore."
Kaup and Colby fought to get a Pearl Harbor Memorial on the north shore of Lake Baldwin, at Orlando Veterans' Memorial Park, in 1992.
There were more survivors living in Orlando then.
The Pearl Harbor Survivors memorial in Orlando was dedicated in 1992. (Arnie Girard/Spectrum News 13)
On Friday — the 77th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack — the two men sat side-by-side outside the memorial on Friday.
"It's nice to see you, my friend," Colby said to Kaup, holding out his hand. It took Kaup a moment to take Colby's hand, as he looked at all of the people watching them.
"What are you now, 102?" Colby asked Kaup.
"102," Kaup repeated.
"And counting," Colby said.
It's not really known how many Pearl Harbor survivors are left.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs thinks about 496,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are still alive, according to the National World War II Museum. The agency says about 348 die every day. Florida is thought by far to be the home of the most World War II veterans at about 49,400.
For the two men, now slow of speech and hard of hearing, it was important to be at the memorial to keep their motto: "Remember Pearl Harbor. Keep America Alert."
"A lot of lives were lost," Colby said. "A lot of lives were dispelled. I suppose it could happen again, really. What keeps those things from happening? That’s the question. What keeps them from happening?"