12/7/2014 5:00:00 AM

35th Pearl Harbor Day parade won't be the last, organizers say

Rachel Stella

Staff Writer

 

 

Hobart “Hoby” VanDeventer of Streator was the only PearlHarbor survivor at the Pearl Harbor Day parade Saturday in Peru.

“I just enjoy coming over here,” he said. “It’s always nice to be with nice people, and it makes me remember things sometimes.”

He was stationed at Schofield Barracks Dec. 7, 1941, when the attack happened.

“They stopped eating breakfast,” Van Deventer’s daughter, Pam VanDeventer of Palatine, said about her father and his fellow soldiers. She described how he had gotten a gun, but “it turned out the gun he had been issued didn’t have a firing pin in it, so he couldn’t have done anything anyway.”

“That’s one of my favorite stories,” Hoby VanDeventer said, smiling.

Saturday marked the 35th annual Pearl Harbor Day parade held by the Peru Veterans Memorial Group. There are no plans to stop having the event, according to this year’s organizer, Dennis Znaniecki, senior vice commander of the American Legion in Peru.

“We’ll keep on going as long as people are interested,” he said.

The parade headed west on Water Street from Peru Rescue Station to South Shore Boat Club, where Pat Feehan, president of the Illinois River Basin Boating Association, honored the club with “the first ever IRBBA Maritime Legacy Award.”

“South Shore Boat Club for 35 years has made patriotism and respecting our veterans a cause,” Feehan said.

Hoby VanDeventer then said a few words.

“Thank you very, very much for this celebration,” he told the crowd. “I’m the only one left — they’re all gone. My memory isn’t as good as it used to be, but thank you.”

“This is the highlight of his year,” Pam VanDeventer added.

Rachel Stella can be reached at (815) 220-6933 or lasallereporter@newstrib.com. Follow her on Twitter @NT_LaSalle.

 

http://newstrib.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=40795&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=29&S=1