Pearl Harbor Initiative co-organizers, Holly Shelton and William F. Phillips, were honored at the Pensacola Chapter of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for their efforts to spearhead one of the most patriotic events to come out of Pensacola in many years – taking six Pearl Harbor Survivors to the 70th Commemoration Ceremony of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. The Pearl Harbor Initiative organized a group of volunteers who developed a community-wide effort to raise awareness and the funds needed to make this trip possible. 

The Freedoms Foundation National Awards are

• awarded to those who promote, through words or deeds, an understanding of responsible citizenship and its relationship to a free society
• given in recognition of the civic achievements of Americans from all walks of life and the achievements of teachers, administrators of public, private and parochial schools in developing the interest, intellect and civic literacy of young adults
• designed as an incentive to encourage others to emulate the deeds of recipients from all across the nation.

Pictured: Pearl Harbor Survivors, Jim Landis, Bill Braddock, Jay Carraway; Founder and Pearl Harbor Initiative Co-organizer, Holly Shelton; Connie Brown, VP of Youth Programs, Pensacola Chapter, Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge; Co-organizer, William F. Phillips, Lt Col, USAF (ret), CAPT Michael Clapsadl, USN (ret), Master of Ceremony, and Pearl Harbor Survivors, Cass Phillips and Frank Emond. Missing from our group of travelers is our recently departed, George F. Mills.

Pearl Harbor Initiative thanks the pensacola community for their love and support

Many thanks to the members of Zelica Grotto for sponsoring a spaghetti dinner and airing of our documentary, “Pearl Harbor, One Last Goodbye” on January 17, 2013. Over 225 members, families and friends arrived with an appetite for spaghetti and history. They were satisfied with both.

After dinner, three of our Pearl Harbor survivors, Jim Landis, Bill Braddock and Cass Phillips, were introduced. The noticeable absence of our survivor, Frank Emond, was forgiven when it was learned that he had gotten married the night before!

Liz Watkins, producer of the documentary introduced the video and presented a memorial dedication to our recently departed Pearl Harbor survivor and trip instigator, George F. Mills. We love and miss him. All of our affiliations would not exist if not for his idea to return to Pearl Harbor for “One Last Goodbye.”