The oldest World War II veteran in the United States received a heroic farewell at Union Station Friday as he embarked on the journey from Los Angeles to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana. rice field.
KCALNews
U.S. Army Private First Class Joseph Eskenazi, 105, was invited to the museum as part of the Gary Sinise Foundation’s Soaring Courage program. For the past eight years, the Soaring Valor program has invited visitors to a museum built to commemorate World War II veterans.
“It was quite an opportunity for me,” said Eskenazi.
He joined up with other World War II veterans and several members of his family who headed to New Orleans instead of traveling by plane from Santa Ana’s John Wayne Airport.
“All my life, if someone asks me, ‘What do you want to do?’ I would say, ‘I like adventure,'” Eskenazi said.
Eskenazi, who lives in Redondo Beach, is the oldest survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the Army in his 1941 year and was stationed at Schofield Barracks during the December 7, 1941 attacks.
According to a statement from the Gary Sinise Foundation, “PFC Eskenazi drove across an open field in bulldozers while being strafed and nearly attacked by Japanese planes, threatening the anticipated invasion of Hawaii. In order to prepare the defenses in preparation, we began to repair the tracks.”
The three-day trip is scheduled to end on Sunday.
KCAL News Staff
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