Hawaii

Pearl Harbor survivor, greeter at memorial dies at age 99

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2013 file photo, Herb Weatherwax, then 96, poses for a photo with Hau'ula Elementary School sixth graders, from left, Dawson Langinbelik, Rachel Cheney, Frank Kojima, La'a Beatty, Chase Colleado, Makoa Ahquin-Soren and Keola Baily, as he greets visitors to the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Weatherwax, an Army veteran who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Monday, Dec. 12, 2016 at age 99. Weatherwax greeted people at the Memorial several times a week. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2013 file photo, Herb Weatherwax, then 96, poses for a photo with Raphaelle Yax of from Austin, as he greets visitors to the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Weatherwax, an Army veteran who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Monday, Dec. 12, 2016 at age 99. Weatherwax greeted people at the Memorial several times a week. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2013 file photo, Herb Weatherwax, then 96, poses for a photo with Hau'ula Elementary School sixth graders, from left, Dawson Langinbelik, Rachel Cheney, Frank Kojima, La'a Beatty, Chase Colleado, Makoa Ahquin-Soren and Keola Baily, as he greets visitors to the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Weatherwax, an Army veteran who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Monday, Dec. 12, 2016 at age 99. Weatherwax greeted people at the Memorial several times a week. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy, File) (The Associated Press)

An Army veteran who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the U.S. into World War II has died at age 99.

Herb Weatherwax greeted visitors several times a week at a memorial in Hawaii for the USS Arizona, a battleship that sank in the Japanese attack. He cruised around in a motorized scooter and wore a cap embroidered with "Pearl Harbor Survivor."

National Park Service spokeswoman Rebecca Schwab says Weatherwax died Monday.

Three other Pearl Harbor survivors greet people at the memorial's visitors center.

Weatherwax was a 24-year-old Army private living in Honolulu when he heard loud explosions the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. He saw the USS Arizona enveloped in flames and the USS Oklahoma turned on its side as he headed to his post.