West

Bob Fernandez, a 100-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, dies peacefully at home 83 years after bombing

Published

1 year ago

December 14, 2024

Bob Fernandez, a 100-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor, dies peacefully at home 83 years after bombing

Bob Fernandez, a 100-year-old survivor of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, died shortly after deteriorating health prompted him to skip a trip to Hawaii to attend last week’s remembrance ceremony marking the 83rd anniversary of the attack.

Fernandez died peacefully at the Lodi, California, home of his nephew, Joe Guthrie, on Wednesday. Guthrie’s daughter, Halie Torrrell, was holding his hand when he took his last breath. Fernandez suffered a stroke about a month ago that caused him to slow down but Guthrie said doctors attributed his condition to age.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, DECEMBER 7, 1941, PEARL HARBOR ATTACK KILLS 2,403 AMERICANS, LAUNCHES US INTO WWII

“It was his time,” Guthrie said.

Fernandez was a 17-year-old sailor on board the USS Curtiss during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that propelled the U.S. into World War II. A mess cook, he was waiting tables and bringing sailors morning coffee and food when they heard an alarm sound. Through a porthole, Fernandez saw a plane fly by with the red ball insignia known to be painted on Japanese aircraft.

Pearl Harbor Navy veteran Bob Fernandez is photographed at home Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Lodi, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

He rushed down three decks to a magazine room where he and other sailors waited for someone to unlock a door storing shells so they could pass them to the ship’s guns. He has told interviewers over the years that some of his fellow sailors were praying and crying as they heard gunfire above.

“I felt kind of scared because I didn’t know what the hell was going on,” Fernandez told The Associated Press in an interview weeks before his death.

Fernandez’s ship, the Curtiss, lost 21 men and nearly 60 of its sailors were injured. The bombing killed more than 2,300 U.S. servicemen. Nearly half, or 1,177, were sailors and Marines on board the USS Arizona, which sank during the battle.

“We lost a lot of good people, you know. They didn’t do nothing,” Fernandez said. “But we never know what’s going to happen in a war.”

Fernandez had been planning to return to Pearl Harbor last week to attend an annual commemoration hosted by the Navy and the National Park Service but became too weak to make the trip, Guthrie said.

He was “so proud” of his six years in the Navy, all of it aboard the USS Curtiss, Guthrie said. Most of his casual clothes, like hats and shirts, were related to his service.

“It was just completely ingrained in him,” his nephew said.

Fernandez worked as a forklift driver at a cannery in San Leandro, California, after the war. His wife of 65 years, Mary Fernandez, died in 2014.

He enjoyed music and dancing, and until recently attended weekly music performances at a local park and a restaurant. He helped neighbors in his trailer park take care of their yards until he moved in with Guthrie last year.

“I’d do yard work and split firewood and he’d swing the axe a little bit,” Guthrie said. “We’d call it his physical therapy.”

Fernandez’s advice for living a long life included stopping eating once you’re full and marching up stairs. He said it was OK to take a nap, but do something like laundry or wash dishes before going to bed. He recommended being kind to everyone.

Guthrie said he thinks Fernandez would want to be remembered for bringing people joy.

“He would rake people’s yards if they couldn’t do it. He would paint a fence. He would help somebody,” Guthrie said. “He would give people money if they needed something. He was so generous and such a kind person. He made friends everywhere.”

Fernandez is survived by his oldest son, Robert J. Fernandez, a granddaughter and several great-grandchildren.

There are 16 known survivors of Pearl Harbor that are still alive, according to a list maintained by Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. All of them are at least 100 years old.

Fernandez’s death would have brought the number to 15, but Farley recently learned of an additional survivor.

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Hawaii

Hawaii sticks with its mail-in voting system despite Trump’s order – The Garden Island

Published

7 minutes ago

May 16, 2026

Press Room

Hawaii sticks with its mail-in voting system despite Trump’s order – The Garden Island

Hawaii officials say they plan to follow state law requiring mail-in voting this year while lawsuits proceed over President Donald Trump’s executive order that critics say would give the federal government unprecedented control over U.S. elections despite the Constitution’s guarantee that Congress and each state hold that authority.

State Attorney General Anne Lopez announced April 3 that Hawaii had joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in suing Trump in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, saying his executive order is clearly unconstitutional and would impose new requirements, including proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote.

They argue the order could lead to a national database that could be used for immigration enforcement, cause fear in state election officials and sow chaos and uncertainty that could have a chilling effect on states like Hawaii with strong histories of immigration.

“We think it’s a piece of a larger effort to try to reduce the number of people voting that will chill the right to vote,” said Emily Hills, senior staff attorney for the Hawaii chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Lopez said in a statement that Hawaii joined the lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive order, in part, because it “intrudes on Congress’ and the states’ power over elections. This unlawful effort to usurp election authority will irreparably harm the states and interfere with the lawful exercise of the right to vote.”

The order also requires states to rewrite their ballot-counting laws to exclude absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day. In Hawaii, ballots must be received by county election officials before voting ends at 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted.

In the November 2024 presidential election, 860,868 island residents registered to vote and 61% turned in ballots.

Out of the 522,236 residents who voted, 92.5% — or 483,078 — cast their ballots by mail compared with 7.5% — or 39,158 — who voted in person at polling centers.

Even so, in-person voters inundated balloting locations on all islands on Election Day, delaying the first return of results for hours. Trump has encouraged his supporters to not trust mail-in balloting and early in-person voting, calling on them to turn out on Election Day instead.

Hawaii voters in 2024 overwhelmingly voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump, who gained only 37% of votes cast statewide compared to Harris, who won 60% but lost nationally.

Since then, the Trump administration has persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to fast-track multiple cases, leading supporters of Hawaii’s mail-in voting to worry the court could decide in Trump’s favor ahead of the state’s Aug. 8 party primaries or Nov. 3 general election.

“It does seem like the United States Supreme Court has been expediting things at the government’s request,” Hills said. “Certainly anything on the eve of an election would be very, very difficult for states, not just Hawaii, to be able to cope with.”

Hills declined to speculate whether the Supreme Court will hear arguments — or make a ruling — ahead of either Hawaii’s primary or general elections.

“I’ve been surprised before,” Hills said. “So, I’m really not making any predictions. I don’t always see eye-to-eye with the way the current Supreme Court rules on things. But I completely sympathize with the state for not wanting to put time and energy and money into contingency plans because that’s time and energy and money that could go to other places.”

Concerns over Trump’s mail-in executive order increased after the Supreme Court last month gutted the Voting Rights Act by excluding race as a factor in drawing political districts.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law also joined the lawsuit challenging Trump’s mail-in voting executive order, saying it directs the U.S. Postal Service to determine who may vote by mail. It gives the Postal Service the power to “refuse to deliver ballots sent by anyone not included on newly created federal mail voter lists,” according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center. “It threatens criminal penalties for election officials, mail carriers, and others who send ballots to or deliver ballots from individuals the administration deems ineligible.

“Far from improving elections, this executive order would create chaos for election officials, erode public confidence in our elections, and block Americans from exercising their most fundamental right and responsibility as citizens — voting,” Brennan Center officials said.

For now, state Elections Officer Scott Nago said there are no backup plans for Hawaii to change course on mail-in voting ahead of any potential ruling by the Supreme Court.

“We still have laws we have to follow, which is the state law,” Nago said. “So we can’t just change without any change to the law.”

Colin Moore, who teaches public policy at the University of Hawaii, called Trump’s executive order “a violation of the Constitution that says that only states and Congress have control over federal elections. The president has no role. The Constitution is pretty clear that this is not a power granted to the president.”

He agreed that Trump’s mail-in directive is part of a larger effort to take control of states’ voter registration data while intimidating state elections officers across the country.

Mail-in voting was originally pushed in the 1990s by Republicans in Oregon to “help voters get their votes in, which would help Republicans in Oregon,” Moore said.

The push for mail-in voting spread to become a bipartisan issue with both Democrats and Republicans arguing it makes it easier for voters in rural communities to cast their ballots.

Then, Moore said, “Trump got involved and started making these baseless claims that all mail voting is full of fraud or that noncitizens are voting, none of which has ever been proven.

“No one has found widespread voter fraud in the way that Trump alleges,” he said. “The irony here is that vote-by-mail is extremely popular nearly everywhere it exists.”

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Idaho

Idaho primaries come next week

Published

13 minutes ago

May 16, 2026

Press Room

Idaho voters will head to the polls Tuesday for a primary election that includes races at the county, legislative, statewide and congressional levels.

Well, at least some voters will head to the polls. This election two years ago drew just 27.9% of registered voters statewide.

The turnout was especially dim in Nez Perce County (19.3%), while Latah County (24.5%) and Clearwater County (25.3%) were near the statewide total. Bright spots were in Lewis County (40.7%) and Idaho County (51.5%).

Voting will be done at regular polling places, and the polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Absentee ballots must reach the county clerk’s office by 8 p.m. Tuesday, regardless of when they are postmarked.

In Idaho, voters must pick from one of five ballots. Those are Republican, Constitution, Libertarian, Democratic and unaffiliated. Only those registered with the Republican, Constitution or Libertarian parties can vote in those closed primaries. All voters, regardless of affiliation, can vote in the Democratic or nonpartisan primaries.

Those who aren’t registered to vote may do so at their polling place on Election Day by bringing a photo ID and proof of residency. Those who are unaffiliated may join a party on Election Day, but those who are already affiliated can’t switch parties at this time.

Marquee races

One of the most-watched Idaho Legislature races is the District 6 Republican primary that is for incumbent Dan Foreman’s Senate seat. Foreman is being challenged by Lori McCann, of Lewiston, who is leaving her House seat to run for the Senate.

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Montana

Montana Lottery Mega Millions, Big Sky Bonus results for May 15, 2026

Published

2 hours ago

May 16, 2026

Press Room

The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at May 15, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from May 15 drawing

17-23-25-52-61, Mega Ball: 03

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from May 15 drawing

01-06-21-22, Bonus: 10

Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 15 drawing

07-08-27-29-30, Bonus: 02

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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