Ira "Ike" Schab, a 105-year-old World War II Navy veteran and one of the last survivors of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, has died at home. He was 21 on Dec. 7, 1941, and served aboard the USS Dobbin, where he helped feed shells to an antiaircraft gun during the attack. Schab later served across the Pacific and worked as an electrical engineer on the Apollo program. In later years he made regular trips to Pearl Harbor memorials to honor fallen shipmates.
Ira “Ike” Schab, Pearl Harbor Survivor and WWII Navy Veteran, Dies at 105
Pearl Harbor survivor Ira "Ike" Schab, 103, is asked to sign an US flag during the 82nd Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony on Thursday, December 7, 2023, in Honolulu, Hawaii. - Mengshin Lin/AP
Ira "Ike" Schab, a World War II Navy veteran and one of the dwindling number of survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, died at home at age 105, his family said.
Death And Family
His daughter, Kimberlee Heinrichs, told The Associated Press that Schab passed away early Saturday at his Beaverton, Oregon, home, with her and her husband at his side. Born on July 4, 1920, in Chicago, Schab was the eldest of three brothers.
Ira Schab is saluted by members of the armed forces as he leaves the 75th Anniversary National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Commemoration on Wednesday, December 7, 2016, in Honolulu. - Eugene Tanner/AP
Pearl Harbor: That Sunday In 1941
Schab was 21 and serving aboard the USS Dobbin when the surprise Japanese attack transformed a peaceful Sunday into chaos. A member of the ship's band who played the tuba, he had just showered and put on a clean uniform when a call for fire rescue sent sailors topside. He watched the USS Utah capsize as Japanese planes swept overhead.
“We were pretty startled. Startled and scared to death,” Schab recalled in 2023. “We didn’t know what to expect, and we knew that if anything happened to us, that would be it.”
He rushed below to fetch ammunition and joined a daisy chain of sailors passing shells to an antiaircraft gun. Navy records show the Dobbin lost three sailors in the attack: one killed in action and two who later died of fragment wounds after a bomb struck the stern. All three were manning an antiaircraft gun.
Ira Schab, right, talks with reporters while sitting next to his son, retired Navy Commander Karl Schab, on December 7, 2022, in Hawaii. - Audrey McAvoy/AP
Wartime Service
Schab spent most of World War II serving in the Pacific theater. His deployments included stops in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), the Mariana Islands and Okinawa.
Postwar Career
After the war, Schab studied aerospace engineering and worked as an electrical engineer for General Dynamics, contributing to the Apollo spaceflight program that ultimately put astronauts on the moon. His son later followed him into the Navy and retired as a commander.
Legacy And Memorials
For decades Schab rarely spoke about Pearl Harbor, but as the number of survivors dwindled he made it a point to attend annual remembrance ceremonies in Hawaii. "To pay honor to the guys that didn’t make it," he told interviewers in 2023. For the 2023 observance he spent weeks building strength so he could stand and salute; he was too unwell to attend this year and died less than three weeks after missing the ceremony.
Remembering Schab: Veterans, family and the public remember Schab for both his service during one of the most consequential days in U.S. history and his postwar work helping advance America’s space program.
