In this interview at the American Legion National Headquarters Convention this month, Lyman Brenner talks about his father's friend, who was killed in Saipan. 1st Lt. Lyman Earl “Dutch” Reifsnyder, born in Altoona, Pennsylvania on February 9, 1920, attended Millersville University, where he excelled at sports. One day before graduating in 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He later received his commission and was sent to the Pacific Theater with the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division in early 1944. On June 18, 1944, during the invasion of Saipan, Lyman’s platoon came under heavy fire. After leading the withdrawal of his squads, he voluntarily stayed behind to care for the wounded. He was killed by enemy fire while rendering first aid to his fellow Marines. He was 24. Lyman was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, and a presidential citation. 📷: PHP; Albert Ledoux; Michel Beckers; public domain military footage 🎵: Ashot Danielyan, Pixabay Video created by Rebecca Schwab

At the VFW National Convention in Ohio this month, Hannah Blurton shared the story of her great uncle, S1c John Karli, who was aboard USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. John was killed in the attack, and for decades the family had no closure because his remains could not be identified and returned home. Instead, he was buried as an Unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) in Honolulu, HI. In 2018, the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency identified his remains, and on May 1, 2019, he was buried with his mother and father. 📷: Hannah Blurton; ABC7; PHP 🎵: Ashot Danielyan via Pixabay Video created by Rebecca Schwab

Pearl Harbor survivor Freeman Kimball Johnson, of Centerville, MA, was 19 when he joined the US Navy from his home state of Massachusetts. His first assignment was aboard USS St. Louis, moored at Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, USS St. Louis was in the Navy yard, having just had #7 boiler repaired. Freeman could hear the sounds of the attack as he worked below decks to reassemble #7 boiler so the ship could get underway. By the time he got topside, USS St. Louis was out to sea. The ship became known as the “Lucky Lou,” because no one aboard was injured and the ship itself sustained no damage. Here Freeman describes what took place that morning, and how everything changed after the attack. Watch Freeman’s full interview here: https://www.pacifichistoricparks.org/oral-histories/freeman-johnson Photos and video: The Johnson family; US Navy; PHP; the Wiener Holocaust Library Collections; Carl Mydans / The LIFE Picture Collection Music: Ashot Danielyan via Pixabay Video created by Rebecca Schwab

On July 30, 2025, a powerful earthquake struck the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, triggering tsunami warnings across the Pacific. At Kalaupapa National Historical Park on the island of Molokai, Hawaii, staff and patients began preparing for the potential impact. Isolated and surrounded by water on three sides, Kalaupapa was especially vulnerable. Sister Alicia Damien Lau, a volunteer at the park, describes how the community came together to help everyone evacuate safely. Photos: Sister Alicia Damien Lau and Kalaupapa/NPS, unless otherwise noted. Music: Polina from Pixabay Video created by Rebecca Schwab

Tammy Brumley volunteers at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, where many real-life Rosies - now in their late 90s and past 100 - come to spend time with visitors. Known affectionately as a “Rosie Wrangler,” Tammy assists the Rosies in telling their stories and keeping those stories alive for future generations. Many women who worked during World War II didn’t think they were Rosies, including Tammy’s Aunt Chris, because they were not riveters. However, Tammy explains that any woman who worked for the war effort on the home front is a Rosie. 📷: Tammy Brumley; PHP; National Archive footage 🎵: “Gently, Onwards,” by ELPHNT Video created by Rebecca Schwab

Alfred Preis, born in 1911 in Austria, studied at the Vienna Technical University and earned his architecture diploma in 1938, the same year Germany annexed Austria into the German Reich. Because of his Jewish background, Alfred and his wife fled to the United States in 1939, and from there he was able to get a job in Hawaii with the Honolulu architectural firm Dahl and Conrad. Over the next few years, both of his parents, his aunts, uncles, and all but one sibling would be murdered in the Holocaust. After the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, Alfred - with his German Nazi passport - was considered an enemy alien and briefly kept in an internment camp. Upon release, he worked for the Hawaii Territorial Department of Public Works. He later opened his own office and designed several landmark buildings in Honolulu, including the entrance to the Honolulu Zoo. He is best known for designing the USS Arizona Memorial, which was dedicated on May 30, 1962. Of the memorial’s design, Alfred said, “Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory. The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses, his innermost feelings.” Alfred passed away on March 29, 1994, in Honolulu, at age 83. His ashes were scattered in the waters off the USS Arizona Memorial. For more about Prof. Axel Schmitzberger’s work: https://doppelhouse.com/alfred-preis/ Photos and video: PHP Music: Anastasia Chubarova from Pixabay Video created by Rebecca Schwab

Anita Loando-Acohido was just 9 years old on December 7, 1941. Her family lived and worked at the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, where Anita regularly saw military planes fly over her house. So at first, she thought nothing of the planes flying overhead that morning, until her brother yelled at her to get inside. These planes, he said, were Japanese, and they were shooting. Here Anita describes what she remembers of the attack. Photos and video: Anita Loando-Acohido; Jim McCoy; DVIDS; the Dole Food Co. Archives at UH’s Hamilton Library; Dole Plantation Music: Nikita Kondrashev on Pixabay Video created by Rebecca Schwab

Visitors to Pearl Harbor — including relatives of sailors who were at Pearl Harbor during the attack — share how our four virtual reality programs deepened their understanding of the attack, and how VR can help younger generations visualize, connect with, and care about what happened on December 7, 1941. Photos and video: Jim McCoy, PHP Music: Musictown on Pixabay Video created by Rebecca Schwab