Anothony Schubert - Rest in Peace
A wonderful story of a Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona Survivor and Hero.
Anthony Schubert, 90, received a memorial service and burial reserved only for crewmembers assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941. Schubert was on the ship when the bombs fell. “He was shaving. I think he saw Japanese planes bombing and he quickly got dressed,” said Schubert’s daughter, Tonay Hayward. She said her father never spoke about the war. It was only after her father’s death that the family discovered statements he made to authorities about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Hayward said her father was able to get to the top of the ship as it was sinking. “He was very lucky to be where he was. He helped the wounded on the ship as long as he could,” said Hayward. Schubert was treated for burns and cuts and later received the Purple Heart. Schubert asked to be buried in his native Kansas with a Naval memorial service. He didn’t know that he could rejoin his shipmates and have his remains interred inside a gun turret on the Arizona. After Schubert’s death, Hayward found out that crewmembers assigned to the Arizona on Dec. 7, 1941, have the right to have their remains interred in a gun turret.
Schubert’s family watched as four National Park Service divers took Schubert’s remains underwater and placed him in his final resting place. Schubert’s name is also forever etched on a wall in the Shrine Room on the Arizona Memorial, along with a handful of other survivors who chose to be reunited with their shipmates. Hayward said she knows this is what her father would have wanted, even though he never spoke about the war. “I would not have discussed it with him. The Arizona was a taboo subject growing up. His young comrades destroyed in an instant. He never got over that,” said Hayward. “Mother would tell me that he would wake up at night screaming.” The bombing had a profound effect on the way Schubert lived his life. “How he dealt with people, and he was always aware of the fleeting nature of life,” Hayward said. Schubert lived another 67 years after the Pearl Harbor bombing. His family is grateful and at peace that his final resting place is with his shipmates on the U.S.S. Arizona. Schubert was among 300 sailors, Marines and officers aboard the Arizona who survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Today, just over 20 survivors remain.
[Source: KITV4 Honolulu Jodi Leong article 7 May 2010 ++]
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