Cross posted to History Board. Surprised this got so little attention.

Link to story

Aaron Cook, originally from Ft. Worth, settled in Houston after WWII. Enlisted in the Navy after his 18th birthday in 1940. Died last Saturday. Link above includes video from his visit to the Bush Library (College Station) in 2017.



Obituary

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Aaron W. Cook, Aviation Ordnance Chief, USN, was born on November 27, 1922, in Ft. Worth, TX. He enlisted in the Navy on December 5, 1940, after completing boot camp in San Diego. He served in the Navy from April 10, 1941 until May 15, 1946. He was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal with two stars and the American Defense medal with "Base" clasp.

He was on Ford Island the morning of the infamous attack of December 7, 1941. He would often recount his memory of being in front of the Administration Building that morning, seeing the low-level first flight of the Japanese bombers dropping their bombs which destroyed the PBY hangars. He would also recount that they initially assumed that it was a "practice raid" until they were struck by the concussion of the explosions, then realizing that they were under attack.

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If you Google Aaron Clark Pearl Harbor, a ton of articles come up, apparently he was able to attend several reunions and commemorations in the last few years.

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like he had a good run in this life.

There was a story in the Kerrville Daily Times of a gentleman that was a neighbor for a couple of years.
Some snippets (it's behind a paywall).

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He had just heard the news: the war was over. And the first thing he did when he hit the mainland was eat a steak.

"Man, I'll tell you, they had steaks that covered the whole plate," said Willibald R. Schwausch, formerly a private first class with the Army Air Corps. "You couldn't eat all of it."

Schwausch, who will celebrate his 99th birthday on Aug. 14, was an airplane mechanic in World War II from 1942 to 1945. He was stationed in North Africa and Italy. Japan surrendered while he was on a ship headed toward the Panama Canal.

The celebration didn't start until the ship hit New York, and shortly after that, Schwausch came back to his home state of Texas.
"I got married," he said with a smile.

Originally from Walburg an area his family help to found and having also lived in some other areas around Texas, Schwausch's family eventually made their way to Kerrville. That's where he started his business, Bill's Auto Supply, which was open for years.

Schausch slides into his 99th year with a birthday bash on Aug. 10, 1:30 p.m. at Brookdale, All are welcome to come by.

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When I first saw the title I was surprised, just statistically he shouldn't have been the last, would have ben depressing to know we are that close to having none of them left nationally....Thankfully, the article was updated - there are several other Pearl survivors left in Texas.

The update:

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UPDATE: When this report originally aired and was posted online, we referred to Mr. Cook as Texas' last known Pearl Harbor survivor. That information was told to ABC13 by the Sons & Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. Since then, we've heard from viewers who know of others.

We've heard of at least three survivors in Texas - men and women - who were bravely serving our nation in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and intend to follow-up with them. Their service should not be forgotten. Our intent was not to take anything away from their bravery. We thank them for their service.

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