Pearl Harbor Survivors Association
The PHSA National Insignia bearing the name Pearl Harbor Survivors Association was registered at the U.S. Patent Office.
[1] The PHSA's motto read: The first meeting of what would become the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association (PHSA) took place on December 7, 1954 at the Del Camino Room in Gardena, California where eleven survivors of the attack gathered to remember their fallen comrades and dear friends.
Following the 1958 meeting, the members began searching for other military survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Over 1,000 survivors attended the PHSA National Reunion held at the Lafayette Hotel in Long Beach, California on December 7–8, 1962.
At this meeting, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association constitution was presented and ratified by the members.
Mark Ferris, who initiated the group's first meeting in 1954, after visiting a reunion held for members of the battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48), was chosen as the PHSA's first national president.
[8] On February 24, 1996, 73 PHSA members attended the christening and launching of the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD-52) at the Avondale Shipyard located on the west bank of the Mississippi River near New Orleans, Louisiana.
[10] On December 7, 2011, during the 70th anniversary ceremony in Hawaii of the attack on Pearl Harbor ("Pearl Harbor Day"), William Muehleib, the President of the PHSA, announced that due to the ages and health of the 2,700 members, the executive board had decided to terminate the corporate association as of December 31 of that year.
2654) anyone who would have qualified for the medal other than the requirement for membership in the Armed Forces to receive the award (i.e. civilians who were not killed or injured but can show that they were present in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, and participated in combat operations against the attack).
