MONTE VISTA — Every year, the Pearl Harbor Memorial Foundation has a tribute on Dec. 7, in Hawaii for survivors and fallen heroes of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. For many years Monte Vista resident and Pearl Harbor survivor, Veteran George Blake would travel to Hawaii to attend the ceremony.
As Blake is now 102 years old, he is no longer able to make the trip, but he will still take part in the ceremony thanks to the effort of local businessman Bob Richards. Blake is one of a small number of survivors that are still alive after that fateful day.
Blake enlisted in the US Army on March 5, 1940, and was stationed in Hawaii for basic training.
On Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Blake was headed to the gym to play basketball. When the attack started, Blake thought it was a drill.
“It sounded like an airplane landing on a corrugated tin roof,” he said. “Suddenly we heard explosions and a rat-a-tat-tat. The sky was full of planes. It took a while for my mind to comprehend all that I was seeing. I thought it was a very realistic drill, except there were rising suns on those planes.”
Blake survived the Pearl Harbor attack and stayed in Pearl Harbor, in Harbor defense. He returned to the mainland and worked as a Radar Instructor in Fort Monroe, Va., until he was discharged July 15, 1945. He lived in Salida for 40 years before moving to Homelake. He turned 102 in January.
Richards, Operations Manager for the Vali 3 Theater, stated that although Blake is not going to Hawaii, he will be honored on Thursday, Dec. 7, via Zoom, on a big screen in Hawaii and he will be acknowledged by the people in Hawaii as being a survivor. Richards decided to also pay tribute to this amazing man, who is a Veteran at the Colorado Veterans Community Living Center at Homelake here in Monte Vista.
Everyone is invited to attend the tribute at the theater.
“What we plan to do, is take that feed and put a camera on George, so that we are shooting George with a full theater of folks behind him, in support of him,” Richards said. “When they talk about George in Hawaii, that is what everyone will see all over the world. George in the theater, with a full theater of supporters sitting behind him. This is a chance for Monte Vista to make itself known to a worldwide audience. It is also a chance for Monte Vista and the San Luis Valley to support George in everything that he has done.”
Richards also spoke of a poem that Blake wrote when he went back to Hawaii years ago entitled “Why you not me.” The poem is powerful and brings about Blake’s deep feelings about the attack, and his question as to why he survived, but others did not.
Richards feels strongly about memorializing this for Blake and has been working with the Polished Edge, to place the poem on granite and to lay it in either the Faith Hinkley Memorial Park in Monte Vista, or at the Community Living Center at Homelake.
As part of the special tribute that will be held on Thursday, Dec. 7, Richards along with Pam Self, who is the Director of the Colorado Veterans Community Living Center at Homelake, plan to present Blake with a smaller version of the granite stone at the event. Blake does not have knowledge of the presentation that will be taking place, so this will be a special surprise to him.
“The idea is to create something that will last forever. We want to pay tribute to George and make this a forever memorial to him,” Richards said.
The public is invited to attend this free event on Dec. 7, at the Vali 3 Theater. The live feed will begin at 12:30 p.m., everyone is encouraged to come at noon and support Blake.
For more information on the event, contact Self at 719-852-5118 or Richards at 719-852-3581.
