Martin Knapp, who was part of our most recent story about local Pearl Harbor survivors, has died.
But not before some total strangers offered a spontaneous, from-the-heart tribute a few months ago for his service in World War II.
The longtime Vancouver resident died Saturday, June 27; he was 91.
In our Sunday edition on Dec. 7, 2014, Knapp and fellow Navy veterans Ralph Laedtke, Paul Johnson and Al McDowell shared their memories of the Japanese attack 73 years earlier.
Knapp was aboard the USS Medusa, a Navy repair ship. As Knapp told us, the Medusa had been elbowed out of its spot in Pearl Harbor a few days earlier by another ship.
“The Utah wanted to take our berth,” Knapp said. “So we had to move, and the Utah got sunk.”
If the Medusa hadn’t had to relocate, “I’d have been in that spot.”
The Page 1 article — specifically, photographer Steve Lane’s portrait of Knapp — provided the old sailor with some recognition in his final months.
Following Wednesday’s service, son David Knapp said that his dad lost a lot of weight as his health declined.
“I took him to Sears to buy new pants and new suspenders,” David Knapp said. At the checkout line, “There were about 15 people ahead of us.”
Then someone recognized Martin Knapp from his Columbian photograph. David Knapp said that the conversation took off along the lines of: “Hey, you’re that Pearl Harbor survivor who was just in the paper!”
“Dad went right to the front of the line.”
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story or just tell a story.
