downtownv
05-03-2016, 04:35 AM
Oakhurst Pearl Harbor survivor dies at 96
JERRY CARINO @NJHOOPSHAVEN His Pearl Harbor scrapbook was meticulous, with photos, maps and even a cafe menu. Ralph Jeffers took pride in showing it to anyone who asked — and a lot of folks did, especially in his later years, when the Ocean Township resident was one of New Jersey’s last living witnesses to the Day of Infamy.
Jeffers died Sunday morning of natural causes at his home in the township’s Oakhurst section, said nephew Kevin Cieri, a Long Branch resident. He was 96.
“To all of us in the family he was an American hero,” Cieri said. “We all loved and respected him. It’s a huge loss.”
Jeffers served several terms as president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association’s New Jersey chapter, which once numbered 300. In a 2014 interview with the Asbury Park Press, he said there were three left. One of them, Daniel Frieson of Mount Holly, died in
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_001.pdf.0/img/Image_1.jpgRalph Jeffers
TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
2015. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association disbanded in 2011 due to lack of living members.
For decades Jeffers did not say much about the attack, but in his later years he felt compelled to keep its history alive and was a regular speaker at schools, colleges and scout gatherings.
“The memories are overwhelming,” he said in 2014.
The Jersey City native enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1937. He was in Pearl Harbor aboard the seaplane tender USS Curtiss on Dec. 7, 1941. Much of the crew was eating breakfast when they heard what he called a “horrendous” noise.
“We looked through the hatch, and we saw the USS Utah turning over,”Jeffers said. “Then we heard those dreaded words, ‘All hands to battle stations. This is no drill.’ ” For two hours, he and others fired at planes bearing Japan’s distinctive rising sun emblem. The ship was saved, but 29 crew members died and more than 40 were wounded. All told, the attacks killed 2,400 of the 80,000 Americans on the base. Jeffers said he never panicked.
“We were so concentrating on what we were doing, we didn’t have time to dwell on what was happening,” he said.
The Pearl Harbor tragedy led to the United States entering World War II, but Jeffers said its importance was not fully embraced by the public until decades later.
“When I came back to the States in ’43, nobody cared about Pearl Harbor,” Jeffers said. “In the ’50s and ’60s, nobody cared about Pearl Harbor.”
Yet he put together the scrapbook, which became an invaluable slice of history as appearance requests grew in his later years.
“He was involved in activities that brought attention to what Pearl Harbor meant to this country,” Cieri said. “His message was for everybody to be vigilant — that in this world, anything can happen.”
Cieri said funeral arrangements are pending.
Staff Writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.
“To all of us in the family he was an American hero. We all loved and respected him. It’s a huge loss.”
KEVIN CIERI
NEPHEW OF RALPH JEFFERS
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_012.pdf.0/img/Image_1.jpgRalph Jeffers speaks to Boy Scouts in 2011.
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_012.pdf.0/img/Image_3.jpgFILE PHOTO
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_012.pdf.0/img/Image_2.jpgRalph Jeffers, in wartime
TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
JERRY CARINO @NJHOOPSHAVEN His Pearl Harbor scrapbook was meticulous, with photos, maps and even a cafe menu. Ralph Jeffers took pride in showing it to anyone who asked — and a lot of folks did, especially in his later years, when the Ocean Township resident was one of New Jersey’s last living witnesses to the Day of Infamy.
Jeffers died Sunday morning of natural causes at his home in the township’s Oakhurst section, said nephew Kevin Cieri, a Long Branch resident. He was 96.
“To all of us in the family he was an American hero,” Cieri said. “We all loved and respected him. It’s a huge loss.”
Jeffers served several terms as president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association’s New Jersey chapter, which once numbered 300. In a 2014 interview with the Asbury Park Press, he said there were three left. One of them, Daniel Frieson of Mount Holly, died in
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_001.pdf.0/img/Image_1.jpgRalph Jeffers
TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
2015. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association disbanded in 2011 due to lack of living members.
For decades Jeffers did not say much about the attack, but in his later years he felt compelled to keep its history alive and was a regular speaker at schools, colleges and scout gatherings.
“The memories are overwhelming,” he said in 2014.
The Jersey City native enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1937. He was in Pearl Harbor aboard the seaplane tender USS Curtiss on Dec. 7, 1941. Much of the crew was eating breakfast when they heard what he called a “horrendous” noise.
“We looked through the hatch, and we saw the USS Utah turning over,”Jeffers said. “Then we heard those dreaded words, ‘All hands to battle stations. This is no drill.’ ” For two hours, he and others fired at planes bearing Japan’s distinctive rising sun emblem. The ship was saved, but 29 crew members died and more than 40 were wounded. All told, the attacks killed 2,400 of the 80,000 Americans on the base. Jeffers said he never panicked.
“We were so concentrating on what we were doing, we didn’t have time to dwell on what was happening,” he said.
The Pearl Harbor tragedy led to the United States entering World War II, but Jeffers said its importance was not fully embraced by the public until decades later.
“When I came back to the States in ’43, nobody cared about Pearl Harbor,” Jeffers said. “In the ’50s and ’60s, nobody cared about Pearl Harbor.”
Yet he put together the scrapbook, which became an invaluable slice of history as appearance requests grew in his later years.
“He was involved in activities that brought attention to what Pearl Harbor meant to this country,” Cieri said. “His message was for everybody to be vigilant — that in this world, anything can happen.”
Cieri said funeral arrangements are pending.
Staff Writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.
“To all of us in the family he was an American hero. We all loved and respected him. It’s a huge loss.”
KEVIN CIERI
NEPHEW OF RALPH JEFFERS
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_012.pdf.0/img/Image_1.jpgRalph Jeffers speaks to Boy Scouts in 2011.
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_012.pdf.0/img/Image_3.jpgFILE PHOTO
http://asburyparkpress.nj.newsmemory.com/newsmemvol2/newjersey/asburyparkpress/20160503/asbbrd_pressmon_05-03-2016_b_a_012.pdf.0/img/Image_2.jpgRalph Jeffers, in wartime
TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER