Honoring Pearl Harbor Veterans and Bringing the Fallen Home

On the 81st anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, Kim Monson presents a special America’s Veterans Stories broadcast featuring Iwo Jima Marine veteran Don Whipple and the remarkable story of how cousins Jane Perkins and Linda Crumbaker brought home the remains of Wilbur Newton, killed aboard the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941.

A Teenage Marine at Iwo Jima

Start listening at 4:10 – Hour 1

Don Whipple was just 17 years old when he landed on the volcanic shores of Iwo Jima as a forward observer for the Marine artillery. His father had bid him an emotional farewell at the train station weeks earlier, never imagining that he himself would die in a car accident before his son returned from war. Whipple learned of his father’s death from a telegram delayed by wartime censorship, discovering two and a half months after the burial that he was fatherless.

The young Marine describes the hellish conditions of the battle: volcanic ash that swallowed men to their knees, mortar shells that sent razor-sharp shrapnel through his leg and head, and the haunting memory of a fellow Marine whose chest wound revealed his heart and lungs. After evacuation, Whipple and a wounded comrade commandeered a landing craft and returned to the fight, where Captain Austin welcomed him back with an embrace rather than discipline.

From his observation post on Mount Suribachi, Whipple called in artillery coordinates and watched the historic flag raising unfold. He spoke by field telephone to the men climbing the summit and witnessed the moment that would become the most iconic image of World War II.

“I looked up there, and I saw the… And he said, they’re tying the flag on the pole now. They’re going to raise it for a second. I looked up there and there and went up and said, there it goes. And I tell you, that was just these guys shouted and fired off their guns. And the ships at sea could see it. They fired their big guns off. And it was just a fantastic thing when that happened.”

Don Whipple, World War II Marine Veteran

Restoring the Marine Memorial

Start listening at 28:16 – Hour 1

Paula Sarles, a Vietnam-era Marine veteran and Gold Star wife, joins the broadcast to discuss the USMC Memorial Foundation’s effort to restore the Marine Memorial in Golden, Colorado. The memorial, dedicated in 1977, requires renovation, and Sarles explains how supporters can honor veterans by purchasing commemorative bricks with their loved ones’ names and service records.

Sarles describes how meeting veterans like Don Whipple inspired her volunteer work. At one point, the organization’s Cooper’s Troopers program included 11 Iwo Jima survivors, whose stories continue to motivate the preservation effort.

“He touched my heart so much when I met him the first time. And people like him. They do like him.”

Paula Sarles, Vietnam-Era Marine Veteran

Eighty Years to Bring Wilbur Home

Start listening at 60:40 – Hour 2

Kim Monson welcomes her cousins Jane Perkins and Linda Crumbaker to share the story of bringing Wilbur Francis Newton home. Wilbur was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack, his remains unidentified and buried in Hawaii for eight decades. When DNA technology finally confirmed his identity in late 2021, the family faced a decision: leave him at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific or bring him home to Missouri.

The discovery of a grave marker in Mound City, Missouri, settled the question. Wilbur’s grieving parents had placed a memorial stone decades earlier, never knowing where their son’s body lay. Jane describes the moment of recognition: “The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I got goosebumps in my eyes.”

“In October of last year, your dad was notified that they had identified his remains. And I became aware of this in December around Christmas time when I got a text from Linda, who’s sitting here with me… and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I got goosebumps in my eyes. I was amazed and elated.”

Jane Perkins

The USS Oklahoma’s Tragic Morning

Start listening at 64:21 – Hour 2

Linda Crumbaker explains why the Oklahoma suffered such catastrophic losses. The ship was scheduled for inspection the following Monday, leaving watertight manholes open for ventilation. When Japanese torpedoes struck, the vessel capsized within 12 minutes, trapping over 400 men below decks. Some survivors could hear tapping from inside the hull for days afterward, but oil-slicked waters and explosion risks prevented rescue operations.

The homecoming ceremony united a community and a family. Over 200 people filed through the Mound City funeral home to pay respects. The procession featured the Patriot Guard leading motorcycles, followed by a horse-drawn hay wagon carrying Wilbur’s flag-draped casket through streets lined with saluting residents. An American Airlines pilot, whose own uncle died in the Pacific, wrote the family an anonymous letter expressing his honor at flying Wilbur’s remains from Hawaii to the mainland.

“As we understand it, at the service that particular day… the Oklahoma was due for inspection on Monday morning. So we can assume, and it said that all of the manholes were open for inspection, to be aired out and to be inspected… when that bombing took place, then it didn’t take long, and the Oklahoma actually capsized because it did take on water because of the open porthole or the open manhole. It was within a matter, I think, of 12 minutes, and it had capsized.”

Linda Crumbaker