by Chris Smith, Press Democrat Staff Writer
Herb Louden, one of the North Bay’s last remaining survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died Tuesday as he awaited his ride to the Veterans Day Parade in downtown Petaluma.
When the Japanese planes appeared over Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941, Louden was a pharmacist’s mate aboard the anchored hospital ship USS Solace. He marked his 97th birthday last Friday.
The longtime resident of Petaluma was one of Sonoma County’s oldest, most revered and visible veterans. He served in the recent past as the chaplain for several veterans organizations, and he had been the national, state and regional chaplain of the former Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
Louden was one of just two Pearl Harbor survivors to attend the pre-Veterans Day luncheon hosted in Santa Rosa last Thursday by a partnership of Rotary and Kiwanis clubs.
He was a celebrity at each year’s Veterans Day Parade in Petaluma. He arose from bed this morning intending to ride in a car driven by his son, Paul, and to present a prayer at the ceremony at Walnut Park that follows the parade.
Paul Louden, a resident of Windsor, said his dad, always an early bird, dressed this morning in his Pearl Harbor Survivors uniform of white slacks, a Hawaiian shirt and his veteran’s association cap. He was sitting in his favorite chair, awaiting time to leave for downtown, when his wife, Evelyn, saw that he had passed away.
The car he was riding in will appear in the parade without him.
You can reach Staff Writer Chris Smith at 521-5211 or chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @cjspd.
