William R. and May Lucius Ewa |
William R. Lucius By Barry W. Dugan For one local survivor of Pearl Harbor, 1991 will not be easily forgotten, not because of any special memories from last year, but for the anniversary it marked. Col. William "Bill" Lucius, former Healdsburg mayor and dean of Sonoma County's regional transportation representatives, made the trip to Hawaii last month for the 50-year commemoration of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Lucius hasn't always made the trips that the group plans every five years. But this one was special. Lucius and his wife, May, were living in a small cottage overlooking Pearl Harbor the day of the attack. It is a memory etched deeply in their memories. "I think it was very important to May and I to go back and see what we had seen 50 years ago," Lucius said in a recent interview. "There is little chance that we would be back again." A Marine sergeant at the time, Lucius would go on to reach the rank of colonel before retiring from the military ranks in 1956. He admits to being drawn to the commemorate ceremonies at Pearl Harbor for the nostalgia. "It was even better than I anticipated," Lucius said. "There was a kind of camaraderie that only exists once in a lifetime." He recounted the final banquet attended by 4,000 people, and a speech by President Bush, and the memories of seeing people he hadn't seen in 48 years. But Lucius, not known for his overt sentimentality, was most touched by a meeting with a complete stranger. He was riding a bus early one morning when a woman, seeing his Pearl Harbor Survivors hat, walked up to him. "She said, 'I just want to thank you for all you've done. We're so glad you're here.' That was probably the most touching thing that happened," Lucius said. Nearly as moving was the parade that Lucius marched in with 80 other Marines who had been at Pearl Harbor the day the US entered World War II. "Marching in the parade was a big factor for me," he said, "People just cheered the hell out of us." Lucius, who at 77 is no youngster himself, said his comrades looked a little worse for the wear. "I think they all looked old," he joked. "I looked at May and she looked so youngand I didn't look so old either." The lesson he brought back was simple: Keep America alert. "We should never allow ourselves to get into that situation again...like we were at Pearl Harbor. I don't think it will ever happen again," he said. A loyal Marine, who flew the corps flag throughout the Gulf War last year, Lucius has no regrets about the US Role in WWII, or the dropping of the atomic bomb. "Hiroshima was, in my opinion, absolutely necessary. We were at war. Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack and what they did was wrongan apology was in order," he said. |
Information provided by William R. Lucius |
