Subscribe

()

©Stars and StripesWashington, D.C., October, 2013: Among the veterans visiting the National World War II Memorial during a rally calling for the end to a government shutdown was Frank Yanick of Falls Church, Va., who was a 20-year-old radioman assigned to the light cruiser USS Phoenix in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. According to a 1999 Washington Post story, Yanick was hurrying to catch a launch to attend Sunday Mass on the ill-fated USS Oklahoma when the Japanese attack began. "Five more minutes, and that would have been it," he said. On his jacket in this photo is a long list of battles in which he took part during the war. Frank Yanick passed away in October, 2016 at age 94.

RELATED MATERIAL: Stars and Stripes' 2013 story about the rally.

Sign Up for Daily Headlines

Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets from around the world.

Sign Up Now