I LIKE IKE

Pearl Harbor Survivor, 101, to Attend Anniversary After Crowdfunding Effort

Ike Schab’s daughter was able to raise the money to hire care for him through GoFundMe.

A 101-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor will attend the 80th memorial service in remembrance of the tragedy this week, traveling to Hawaii after his daughter was able to raise nearly triple the funds she needed to hire adequate care for him. Kimberlee Heinrichs told CNN she turned to GoFundMe when it became clear that she wouldn’t be able to afford to send her father, Ike Schab, to the ceremony on her own.

After Heinrichs turned to the crowdfunding website, she surpassed her initial $5,000 goal in less than a week. “The idea that complete strangers donated money even beyond what was needed made me cry,” she said. “People did something kind when that seems in short supply.” Heinrichs said she was particularly thankful given that this could be her father’s final year attending the service.

Schab explained he was on a docked ship during the 1941 attack. “I remember being at the bow of our ship and a big high tower of flame and debris came off of [the Arizona],” Schab said. “It’s getting harder to remember those things, but I remember trying not to get killed during the war. Like most people.”