Hero, centenarian still serving country
Two years ago, Ray Chavez gamely told the History Channel that he’d go back to the Navy if the Navy would take him. It’s that sense of pride, patriotism and duty that drives the 106-year-old California native to continue serving his country the best way only he can. The former Navy quartermaster teaches what few others can teach from personal experience and honors those who died fighting in the U.S. armed forces in World War II.
As the oldest living veteran survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Chavez travels the country passing along the world-changing history he experienced. Stationed on the minesweeper, USS Condor, he recalls spotting a Japanese submarine in restricted waters in the predawn hours before the attack. Chavez remembers “the day that will live in infamy” as if it were yesterday, according to numerous media outlets. He reflects on his courageous shipmates.
“I met some real fine young men,” he told KSWB-TV on his Memorial Day visit to the Capitol. “I will never forget them.”
Chavez is in high demand. He readily accepts invitations to memorial services and commemorations around the country. He believes it’s important for younger generations to understand the meaning of duty and service.
On May 24, Chavez and his daughter and caretaker, Kathleen Chavez met with President Trump in the Oval Office. Three days later, Chavez unveiled a new painting in the Pentagon of the Pearl Harbor attack. On Memorial Day, he participated in ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery and with Defense Secretary James Mattis rode in the national Memorial Day parade.
En route to Washington D.C., Chavez stopped in Wichita to refuel, meet with fellow veterans and visit Veterans Memorial Park. Local veterans groups presented their honored guest with a brick inscribed with his name that they’ll add to the memorial.
What he saw during World War II haunts him still, Chavez said in an interview broadcast on CNN May 26.
“I’ll never forget,” he said. “I saw all the ships on fire and a terrible smokescreen all through the harbor. I started crying because of all the sailors trying to save themselves.”
Following the attack, Chavez joined the crew of the La Salle, that ferried troops and supplies to the embattled Pacific islands. He was “just simply incredibly proud” to serve his country, he told People Magazine in 2016.
For the past decade, he’s attended anniversary events at Pearl Harbor.
Chavez was born in San Bernardino to Juanita and Atilano Chavez, immigrants from Mexico. He grew up in San Diego. When he was nine, his parents died, his mother from exhaustion, his father probably of cancer, he told the San Diego Tribune newspaper in 2017. Chavez went to work in fields and nurseries.
He endured not only the hell of war but also heartbreak. In 1955, his only daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law were killed in a car accident.
Two years later, Chavez and his late wife, Margaret, adopted five-year-old Kathleen.
Chavez worked as a landscaper, retiring at age 96. At age 90, he took over groundskeeping and landscaping for St. Michael’s and St. Gabriel’s Catholic churches in Poway where he’s lived since 1959.
Chavez still gardens and works out with a trainer twice a week.
He attributes his longevity to clean living and a positive attitude. He looks at every birthday as a miracle. In an interview with NBC News broadcast March 13, 2017, he said, “Somebody upstairs is taking care of me … and I’m very grateful.”
