One of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has died. Richard C. “Dick” Higgins died at home in Bend, Oregon, at the age of 102. His granddaughter said Wednesday he died of natural causes.
Pearl Harbor survivor Dick Higgins listens to a speaker during a ceremony at Bend High School in Bend, Ore., on Dec. 7, 2023, to honor him as well as those who died in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Lt. Chip Lewis speaks with Dick Higgins after helping to escort him to his seat prior to the start of the 80th commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 2021, at Kilo Pier on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Pearl Harbor survivor Dick Higgins waves to a crowd of students and community members as he is introduced at a ceremony Dec. 7, 2023, at Bend High School in Bend, Ore., to honor him as well as those who died in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Lt. Chip Lewis speaks with Dick Higgins after helping to escort him to his seat prior to the start of the 80th commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 2021, at Kilo Pier on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Lt. Chip Lewis speaks with Dick Higgins after helping to escort him to his seat prior to the start of the 80th commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 2021, at Kilo Pier on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Pearl Harbor survivor Dick Higgins waves to a crowd of students and community members as he is introduced at a ceremony Dec. 7, 2023, at Bend High School in Bend, Ore., to honor him as well as those who died in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Pearl Harbor survivor Dick Higgins waves to a crowd of students and community members as he is introduced at a ceremony Dec. 7, 2023, at Bend High School in Bend, Ore., to honor him as well as those who died in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Higgins, one of the few remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at his home in Bend, Ore. He was 102. Higgins died at home in Bend, Oregon, on Tuesday of natural causes, granddaughter Angela Norton said. Higgins was a radioman assigned to a patrol squadron of seaplanes based at the Hawaii naval base when Japanese planes began dropping bombs on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.interview how he was in his bunk inside a screened-in lanai, or porch, on the third floor of his barracks when the bombing began. “I jumped out of my bunk and I ran over to the edge of the lanai and just as I got there, a plane went right over the barracks,” he said according to the interview by the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. He estimated the plane was about 50 feet to his side and 100 feet above his barracks. He described “big red meatballs” on the plane, in reference to the red circular emblem painted on the wings and fuselages of the Japanese aircraft. “So, there was no doubt what was happening in my mind, because of the things that had been going on,” he said.Marriages in the US are back to pre-pandemic levels, CDC says Norton called her grandfather a humble and kind man who would frequently visit schools to share stories about Pearl Harbor, World War II and the Great Depression. Norton said he wanted to teach people history so they wouldn’t repeat it.Higgins was born on a farm near Mangum, Oklahoma, on July 24, 1921. He joined the Navy in 1939 and retired 20 years later. He then became an aeronautics engineer for Northrop Corporation, which later became Northrop Grumman, and other defense contractors. He worked on the B-2 Stealth Bomber, Norton said.Not long after he went into hospice last Thursday, he told his granddaughter, “I’m ready to go see Winnie Ruth.” “I said, ‘It’s OK, go home. Be with Jesus and be with Winnie Ruth,’” Norton said."’It’s okay to do that. Leave us. You’ve had it’s such a good and full life.’” There are now 22 survivors of the attack still living, said Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. Farley said other survivors may still be living but not all joined the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association when it was formed in 1958 and so may not be known to her., which launched the U.S. into World War II. The USS Arizona battleship alone lost 1,177 sailors and Marines, nearly half the death toll. About 87,000 military personnel were on Oahu on Dec. 7, according to a rough estimate compiled by military historian J. Michael Wenger. Higgins is survived by two children, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The family plans to hold a memorial service at a church in Bend on Thursday followed by a ceremony with full military honors. Afterward his body will be flown to California, where he will be buried next to his wife.
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