Oldest Pearl Harbour survivor marks 105th birthday

Joseph Eskenazi joins family and veterans at National World War II Museum in New Orleans

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  At 104 years and 11 months old, Second World War veteran Joseph Eskenazi is the oldest living veteran to survive the attack on Pearl Harbour. All photos: AP

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  Mr Eskenazi's family and fellow veterans hold signs honouring him at an event celebrating his upcoming 105th birthday

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  They were visiting thanks to the Soaring Valour Programme, a project from actor Gary Sinise's charitable foundation dedicated to aiding veterans and first responders

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  Second World War veteran Billy Hall, 96, celebrates fellow veteran Mr Eskenazi

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  Mr Eskenazi with fellow veterans, his great-grandchildren and their grandmother, Belinda Mastrangelo

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  Mr Eskenazi speaks with reporters at the event

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  Second World War veteran Gordon Wilson, 99, celebrates Mr Eskenazi. Mr Wilson served in the Pacific aboard the USS Lexington and received a Purple Heart

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  Second World Veteran Wallace Johnson, 97, worked on the Apollo space programme with the original seven astronauts

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  Mr Eskenazi and family

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  Veteran Tony DiLisa, 98, served in England and was involved in preparing for and supplying Operation Overlord and the retaking of Europe

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  World War II veteran Joseph Eskenazi, who at 104 years and 11 months old is the oldest living veteran to survive the attack on Pearl Harbor, holds a photo of his younger self, at an event celebrating his upcoming 105th birthday at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. (AP Photo / Gerald Herbert)

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  Mr Eskenazi was a private first class in the US Army when the attack occurred

Flag-waving admirers lined the pavements outside the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to greet the oldest living survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour as he marked his coming 105th birthday.

“It feels great,” Joseph Eskenazi of Redondo Beach, California, said after posing for pictures with his great-grandson, four, his 21-month-old great-granddaughter and six veterans of the Second World War, all in their 90s.

Mr Eskenazi turns 105 on January 30. He had boarded an Amtrak train in California on Friday for the journey to New Orleans. The other veterans, representing the US Army, Navy and Marines, flew in for the event.

They were visiting as part of the Soaring Valour Programme, a project of actor Gary Sinise's charitable foundation dedicated to helping former members of the armed forces and arranging trips to the museum for Second World War veterans and their guardians.

Mr Eskenazi was a private first class when the attack occurred. His memories include being awakened when a bomb fell — but didn't explode — near where he was sleeping at Schofield Barracks, explosions as the battleship USS Arizona was sunk by Japanese bombs, and machinegun fire from enemy planes kicking up dust around him after he had volunteered to drive a bulldozer across a field so it could be used to clear runways.

Second World War veteran Joseph Eskenazi at the National World War II Museum, New Orleans. AP

“I don't even know why — my hand just went up when they asked for volunteers,” he said. “Nobody else raised their hand because they knew that it meant death ... I did it unconsciously.”

He was at the Schofield Barracks when the attack began on December 7, 1941, bringing the US into the war. About 2,400 servicemen were killed.

Mr Eskenazi and the veterans posed for pictures amid exhibits of Second World War aircraft and Higgins boats, designed for beach landings.

“Thank you guys for providing us a country that was worth fighting for,” veteran Billy Hall, who rose to the rank of major in the Marines after enlisting in 1941, shouted to the gathered crowd.

The museum opened in 2000 as the National D-Day Museum and has since expanded in size and scope.