Pearl Harbor survivor fights for the fallen, restores the names of those killed in the attack
John Lewis, a retired Navy captain who worked with Emory while assigned to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command between 2001 and 2004, said the command is fortunate someone like Emory has the time and initiative to painstakingly connect the dots on the unknowns.
"Without Ray Emory I don't know if this ever would have been done," Lewis said from Flowood, Miss.
Emory says people sometimes ask him why he's spending so much time on events from 70 years ago. He tells them to talk to the relatives to see if they want the unknowns identified.
He doesn't get emotional about the work, except when the government doesn't exhume people he thinks should be dug up and identified.
"I get more emotional when they don't do something," he said.
He'll keep working after he's formally recognized during the Pearl Harbor ceremony on Friday to remember and honor the dead.
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I have been to the punch bowl area and to the memorial set up on that island pertaining to the attack at Pearl Harbor. There is a special spirit in that area. Thank you for your work pertaining to identifying the dead.
Kudos to Mr. Emory. I wish I could be there at the ceremony honoring him to thank him personally for his service to our country.