World War II Honoree

Joseph Perez

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Honored By

Lori Gilbert

In 1941 he was a civilian construction worker at Pearl Harbor, building a dry dock for United States Navy ships that might need repairs. On Sunday morning, December 7. 1941, he woke up when his home, about one mile from the harbor, began to shake. When he ran outside and saw the smoke from the burning ships and saw the Japanese Planes overhead, he knew it was not just more military maneuvers. After working the next few days on the base with clean-up crews removing debris, he returned to his construction assignment on the dry docks. He remained in the construction of facilities at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station until he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1944. He was assigned to the Seabees Construction Battalion and deployed to the Philippine Islands to build airplane landing strips. After the fighting ended in 1945, he was transferred back to Hawaii, where he served on a patrol boat that circled the islands. He was honorably discharged in 1946.