At age 17, Earl J. “Chuck” Kohler got his parents’ permission to enlist in the Navy, in April 1941. Only eight months later, as a young serviceman, he would become part of history as a fighter in the Pearl Harbor attack.
Every day since, Kohler, now 102 and just one of 11 survivors left, has made it his life’s work to “honor” the fallen soldiers who didn’t make it home.
