08/05/2026
Fair winds and following seas, Rolland E. Briar. Your watch is over, but your legacy, and the memory of those who served beside you, will endure forever.
It is with profound sorrow that we bid farewell to Rolland Briar, of one of the last Pearl Harbor survivor who departed this life on August 1, 2026, at the remarkable age of 104. With his passing, we lose not only a witness to one of the darkest days in American history, but a member of the Greatest Generation whose courage, resilience, and quiet service helped shape the world that followed.🕊️🇺🇸⚓
A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Rolland enlisted in the United States Navy in 1940, answering his country's call before America had entered World War II. After completing recruit training, he was assigned to the destroyer tender USS Whitney (AD-4), never imagining he would soon witness one of the darkest mornings in American history.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Rolland was standing aboard USS Whitney, waiting for a launch to take him to Ford Island for Sunday church services when history changed forever.
Without warning, Japanese aircraft roared across the skies over Pearl Harbor. As bombs began to fall and machine-gun fire swept the harbor, the order came to go below deck.
"They ordered us all below deck because they were strafing," Rolland recalled during a 2008 oral history interview. "I remember just a lot of noise and confusion, and we weren't too far from the Arizona when it blew up... but we were ordered to stay below deck."
From beneath the deck, Rolland and his shipmates endured the deafening explosions, the violent shaking of the ship, the smell of smoke, and the terrifying uncertainty of not knowing who would survive. Among the sounds he would never forget was the catastrophic explosion of USS Arizona, where 1,177 American sailors and Marines lost their lives in an instant.
When the attack finally ended, Rolland emerged to a harbor transformed into a battlefield. Thick black smoke filled the sky, burning ships lined the water, and devastation stretched as far as he could see. Yet amid the destruction, he immediately went to work helping reorganize the shattered Pacific Fleet. For nearly a month after the attack, he assisted in reassigning sailors whose ships had been sunk or crippled, helping restore order during one of the Navy's greatest crises.
His service did not end there.
Rolland later entered the Navy's V-12 College Training Program at Northwestern University before returning to the Pacific, where he served as an aviation supply clerk at the Naval Air Station on Saipan until the end of World War II. Though he had once planned to make the Navy his career, he chose to return home after the war and begin the next chapter of his life.
Like so many of his generation, Rolland rarely spoke about Pearl Harbor for decades. It was not until the 1970s that he began sharing his story, believing future generations needed to understand the price of freedom and remember those who never came home.
For more than a century, Rolland carried the memories of that fateful morning, not seeking recognition, but ensuring that the sacrifices of his fallen shipmates would never be forgotten. As the number of Pearl Harbor survivors dwindled, he became one of the living voices preserving the legacy of December 7, 1941, reminding all Americans that freedom has always come at a tremendous cost.
Today, we remember not only a Pearl Harbor survivor, but a sailor, a patriot, and an American hero whose quiet courage and lifelong service embodied the very best of the Greatest Generation.
May we always honor his service, cherish his legacy, and ensure that the story of Pearl Harbor lives on through those who continue to tell it.
Our deepest condolences are with Rolland's family, friends, fellow veterans, and all who had the privilege of knowing him.
Fair winds and following seas, Rolland E. Briar. Your watch is over, but your legacy, and the memory of those who served beside you, will endure forever.