Cecil Calavan is quick to share his smile and witty sense of humor.
He knows he is part of an exclusive group that has faded in numbers. Yet at almost 89, he is the youngest among the survivors of the USS Utah, and he jokes that his small group is the envy of other Pearl Harbor veterans when it comes to holding a reunion.
“They say, ‘You have too damned much fun,’” Calavan said. “’We’re going to have to go down there and ruin it for you.’”
Calavan, a longtime Anacortes resident, is one of only seven known survivors of the USS Utah, the first ship that was hit and sunk at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
He is president of the USS Utah Survivors Association and for the second year in a row is leading a fundraising effort to reduce costs for the group’s annual reunion in Las Vegas.
Five Utah survivors, including Calavan, are planning to attend the event, which takes place the second week of May. At least four survivors from other ships damaged or sunk at Pearl Harbor also are planning to come.
“When we started in Salt Lake City, we had over 300 (Utah survivors in attendance),” Calavan said. “We’ll be lucky if we can get five now to the reunion.”
Only seven are known to be still alive, he said.
“There might be some others in homes who’ve outlived their families,” he said. “There’s no way for us to find out if they’re still alive. But we look hard.”
Calavan said that last year’s reunion was a “marvelous success,” with five Utah survivors and two from other ships in attendance. He said the Navy sent officers to speak at the banquet, which was attended by about 50 people.
Calavan said it became apparent two years ago that costs associated with the reunion were getting too steep, so requests for donations started last year.
He said about $2,500 was raised from people in Island and Skagit counties.
Pearl Harbor survivors who come to the reunion don’t have to pay. The money raised helps reduce costs for survivors’ families, caregivers, guests and other veterans. He said donations helped slice the cost of the banquet in half last year.
“The idea is for everybody to have a good time or the old guys will be there by themselves,” Calavan said. “There will be no reunion if nobody else comes.”
Calavan was 17 the morning the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, striking the ship he was aboard and causing it to sink in less than 15 minutes.
The memories are still clear 72 years later. He watched a torpedo drop from an aircraft and strike the Utah, the explosion knocking him off his feet.
“I can still see that airplane,” he said. “If it had had a number on it, I’d probably remember that.”
Before he jumped off the ship and swam for shore, Calavan remembers seeing a body laying in the water at the stern of the ship.
Calavan only recently learned that the body belonged to Melvyn Gandre. He learned that after meeting Gandre’s son at a USS Utah reunion.
“For years, I didn’t know who he was,” Calavan said. “It turns out that his son was our quartermaster putting up the flag.”
Calavan said that Gandre was manning a machine gun and died while protecting others.
“He was killed while helping get people off the ship,” Calavan said. “I met his son at our reunion. Just think about that.”
If you’d like to make a donation toward the USS Utah reunion, mail to: USS Utah Association Treasurer, 388 Blair Mine Road, Angels Camp, CA., 95222.