SAN LEANDRO, CA – NOVEMBER 21: Pearl Harbor survivor Michael “MIckey” Ganitch, center, poses for a photo with his wife Barbara, left, and their daughter Bonnie Church during a drive-by birthday celebration as he turns 101-years-old in San Leandro, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Pearl Harbor survivor Michael “Mickey” Ganitch celebrated his 101st birthday with a drive-by parade at his home in San Leandro on Saturday.
The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Department Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags.
His wife Barbara, their daughter Bonnie Church and other friends and local veterans attended.
SAN LEANDRO, CA - NOVEMBER 21: Pearl Harbor survivor Michael "Mickey" Ganitch waves at Alameda County Toys for Tots coordinator Daniel Cardenas, friends, current and military veterans from his lawn during a drive-by birthday celebration as he turns 101-years-old in San Leandro, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
ALAMEDA, CA - NOVEMBER 21: Toys for Tots coordinator Staff Srgt. Adam Byler, left, gets a toy donated from a driver who did not want to give her name during a drive-thru toy drive drop off event for the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in Alameda, Calif. on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
SAN LEANDRO, CA - NOVEMBER 21: Pearl Harbor survivor Michael "Mickey" Ganitch waves at friends, current and military veterans from his lawn during a drive-by birthday celebration as he turns 101-years-old in San Leandro, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
SAN LEANDRO, CA - NOVEMBER 21: Air Force Vietnam Veteran Abel Perreira Jr. and his wife Denise Perreira Jr. take part in a drive-by birthday celebration for Pearl Harbor survivor Michael "Mickey" Ganitch, far back, who turns 101, as he waves at friends, current and military veterans from his lawn in San Leandro, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
SAN LEANDRO, CA - NOVEMBER 21: Pearl Harbor survivor Michael "Mickey" Ganitch waves at friends, current and military veterans from his lawn during a drive-by birthday celebration as he turns 101-years-old in San Leandro, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
SAN LEANDRO, CA - NOVEMBER 21: Pearl Harbor survivor Michael "Mickey"Ganitch, center, poses for a photo with his wife Barbara, left, and their daughter Bonnie Church during a drive-by birthday celebration as he turns 101-years-old in San Leandro, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
SAN LEANDRO, CA - NOVEMBER 21: A vehicle displays a happy birthday message during a drive-by birthday celebration for Pearl Harbor survivor Michael "Mickey" Ganitch, who turns 101, as he waves at friends, current and military veterans from his lawn in San Leandro, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. The event was organized by members of the Alameda County Toys for Tots Drive in which an Alameda Fire Engine led the drive-by followed by vehicles, some of them waving American flags. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
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Ganitch was in a football uniform the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when the first Japanese Zeros screeched over his ship, the battleship USS Pennsylvania, and pulled America into war.
“I was just a country boy from Ohio,” Ganitch, of San Leandro, said recently. “I was on the ship’s football team. We were supposed to play the USS Arizona that afternoon, and we were going out to scrimmage.”
Suddenly a 500-pound armor-piercing bomb hit the ship’s deck. It detonated near her magazine — where ammunition is stored. It was the only bomb that struck her. Fifteen of Ganitch’s shipmates were killed, 14 were missing.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in the war, Ganitch is one of roughly 392,000 who are still alive, according to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. They die at a rate of about 300 a day.
