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Group to Local PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR USS TENNESSEE


KASTAUFFER
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My Father-In-Law was a member of the Ray Glover Chapter of the PHSA before he moved to Hawaii.

 

A few months ago, I saw an ad for an estate sale here locally that said " US NAVY STUFF". A family was selling the entire contents of the house another member of the same Chapter lived in. .

 

I took a chance and went.

 

I got there about an hour after it opened and bought quite a bit of material, but missed out on about 1/2 of what I am posting today. Most of it came off of Ebay!!! I knew who the guy was that got in at the crack of dawn and watched his Ebay auctions over the next 3 weeks and was able to get the medals and the PHSA jacket. It was nice to have saved most of this from being split up.

 

Raoul Lanning was a Fire Controlman 2c serving on the USS Tennessee during the Pearl Harbor attack. After the attack he went to Flight School and became an officer and a Naval Aviator. For the rest of the war he stayed stateside and did not see any additional combat, but I think being at Pearl Harbor was enough for one war.

 

I found the photos of him online showing him wearing the same jacket and the PHSA hat.

 

He passed away in 2012 ands was laid to rest at the Tahoma National Cemetery.

 

 

lanning.JPG

 

lanning2.jpg

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Rest in Peace Raoul

 

lanning3.JPG

 

A couple of articles about Raoul.

 

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=71006

 

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101572264

 

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U.S. Sailors with Naval Station Everett's funeral honors team render honors to retired Lt. Cmdr. Raoul Lanning during his funeral at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Wash., Dec. 7, 2012. Lanning was a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack and spent 30 years in the Navy, both active and reserve. The morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese bombers staged a surprise attack on U.S. military forces in Hawaii. The day after the attack, before a joint session of Congress, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan and the U.S. officially entered World War II. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jeffry A. Willadsen/Released)

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It makes me happy that he lived so long. I hope he shared his memories of that tragedy with his family and anyone willing to listen. There is so much important history here.

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Glad you got much of it back together. I understand that money trumps history to many, but I hate it just the same. Preserving that

Vets story is so much more important than profit.

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Great group Kurt! An incredible effort at keeping much of the group together too. Were there uniforms at the sale?

 

You mentioned he remained stateside for the rest of the war, but he wears a pacific theater ribbon with campaign star. I take it he served in a campaign before his aviator training?

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Thanks for the comments everyone!

 

I did get his officers blue uniform too. I left his greens there because they were trashed.

 

His A-Pac with one star was actually for the Pearl Harbor attack itself.

 

They had a few other items like a late war set of B8 flight goggles but they wanted so much I left them there.

 

Thanks

 

Kurt

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