In a ceremony at Pearl Harbor, where Imperial Japan’s surprise Dec. 7, 1941, attack drew the United States into World War II, a crowd gathered Tuesday on the pier beside the battleship USS Missouri — the ship where Japanese diplomats signed the unconditional surrender that finally ended the war.

Few of the men who were there that day remain, but on Tuesday eight surviving crew members were present at Pearl Harbor.

One of them was Edgar Buffman, 100, who served as gunner’s mate 2nd class aboard the Missouri. Buffman, who hails from Rhode Island, is a “plank owner” of the ship — meaning he had been a crew member when it was commissioned in June 1944 and served aboard throughout the war.

He and fellow gunners shot at Japanese planes that tried to sink the warship during some of the fierces

See Full Page