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Happy Birthday Mr. Frank! Local Pearl Harbor Survivor Frank Emond Turns 104
May 21, 2022
Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Emond of Cantonment celebrated his 104th birthday Saturday. You can leave your birthday wishes in the comment section below, or on our Facebook page.
Originally from Rhode Island, Emond enlisted in the Navy in 1938 as a musician. He played the French horn for the ship’s band and even got to perform at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York before he was assigned to the USS Emond, CWO4 USN (RET.), spent his naval career as a musician and band director. He was on the stern of the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) getting ready to play morning “Colors” on his French horn when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Emond then walked to the conductor’s stand, picked up the baton and proceeded to direct the band in “Stars and Stripes”.
After seven years of playing horn, he became a Navy bandleader, retiring in 1968.
“I’m about the last one (Pearl Harbor survivor) left around here,” Emond said during a previous drive-by birthday at the Gonzalez United Methodist Church.
He remained a music man; sometimes leading the music at Gonzalez Methodist and performing with the Pensacola Civic Band.
Last November, he broke his own Guinness World Record as “World’s Oldest Conductor”. At age 103, led the U.S. Air Force Band’s Airmen of Note in Glenn Miller’s iconic “In the Mood” at the American Veteran Center’s “America Valor: A Salute to our Heroes” at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington.
For photos from Emond’s 102 drive-by birthday event in 2020, click or tap here.
Pictured above: At 103, Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Emond of Cantonment broke his own Guinness World Record as “World’s Oldest Conductor” in Washington, D.C. Pictured below: Scenes from Frank Emond’s 102nd drive-thru birthday party in 2020 at Gonzalez United Methodist Church. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
43 Responses to “Happy Birthday Mr. Frank! Local Pearl Harbor Survivor Frank Emond Turns 104”
Greetings Frank,
My Grandfather Albert Pruett (1920-2010). Was about to raise the colors on the USS Pennsylvania that fateful morning. Many stories from him over the years.
God bless you.
Jonathan Pruett
Congratulations Mr. Frank. My wife and I had the honor and privilege of sharing lunch with you when you visited Clarksville, TN during the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Celebration a few years back. I think then you were a “Young 101″!!. I am a 25 year Army veteran and I salute you for your service and your longevity. Keep on “Keeping On” and please come visit our city again.
JC & Lora Whitney
Happy Birthday, Mr. Frank! Thank you for your service! ❤️
Happy Birthday!!!! Thank you for your service to our nation sir!!!
Happy Birthday Sir
Happy Birthday Sir!! God Bless You! Thank you for your Service! ❤️
Happy Birthday Mr Frank! Thank you for your service!
Happy Birthday! Thank you for your service!. My father was there also. He is alive and doing well!
Happy Birthday Mr. Frank – we miss seeing you around Naval Hospital Pensacola.
Happy birthday! May the music keep on playing. Thank you for your service.
Happy Birthday Mr. Emond!
Mr. Frank, I would be proud to be able to meet You. Thank You and Your Brothers-in-Arms for the sacrifices You made to keep us free! My Father was enlisted in WW II and operated a landing craft on Iwo Jima, then got commissioned in the Air Force and flew in a FACS squadron in Korea and then flew in the Vietnam war.
I wish You a very Happy Birthday with many more to come! You are truly a hero Sir!
Happy Birthday Mr Frank… Thank you for your service & love for our country… many blessings & healthy wishes♡
“The Greatest Generation!”
Thank you for your service Mr Frank and Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday! You are a wonderful person to have led a life of serving and will always remember your military life. Music is always in your heart. Wish my Dad could have lived longer. He also served in Pearl Harbor.
Happy 104th Birthday! What a life you have led! Thanks for being an inspiration and example for all of us. I’m looking forward to sending you 105th birthday wishes next year, Handsome!
Mr. Frank, THANK YOU for your service sir.
Happy birthday young man thank you for your service
Thank you for your service. Happy Happy Birthday Mr. Frank!
Happy 104th Birthday Mr.FRANK EMOND..so appreciate your sharing of your experiences and patriotism at our BARRINEAU PARK HISTORICAL SOCIETY CHRISTMAS GATHERING 6 years ago when you were a YOUNG 98! You are a walking encyclopedia of history and hope you record your thoughts and experiences on video so that our future generations know what life was like way back when.
Thank you for your service sir. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. Have a great day
Happy Happy Birthday Mr Frank!
Happy Birthday Mr. Frank.
Thanks for your service and your spirit.
God Bless.
Happy Birthday to you, sir! I hope that your day is truly blessed and filled with great happiness! Sir, my grandfather was a Pearl Harbor survivor! He, too, was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, and he worked in the galley. (He didn’t speak much of the experience there until the last 5-6 years of his life. But he did tell us that he was helping unload a pallet of ice cream that had just been delivered! (By a Japanese owned company that was contracted with the Navy to supply them with the ice cream, by the way!)
But I just want you to know that I thank you, I appreciate you, and I have nothing but the highest degree of respect for you and your many years of service to our country! May this be the happiest birthday of them all for you, sir, and may God bless you!!!
Happy Birthday Mr Frank!! Hope you have a fantastic day full of music and laughter!!
Gene & Liley Driskell. What a wonderful life. GOO BLESS YOU !!!!!
Happy birthday and wishing you many blessings!!!
Happy Birthday Mr. Frank! Thank you very much for your service. It’s truly an honor to have served in the military for this Great Nation. May God continue to bless you beyond measure. You’re an inspiration to us all.
Happy birthday and thank you for your service!
A most Happy and wonderful Happy Birthday Shipmate!
This sailor sends you a great big hand salute!!
Happy birthday. Thank you for your service
Happy Birthday God bless you. Thanks for serving.
Thank you for your service! And have a blessed birthday dear!
Thank you for your service Sir. Happy Birthday enjoy your day
Happy Birthday Mr Frank!
Happy Birthday Sir!
I wish you all the best!
As I told you in our previous telephone conversation, I only respected and admired two men who I knew personally. My high school principal was one, and you, sir, are the other.
It has always been an honor to have been a member of your NAS Pensacola Band 1965-1967.
A Very Happy Birthday Sir !!!
Happy Birthday Sir, thank you and God Bless You
Greatest Generation of folks we have ever seen. Thank You for your Service and Guidance through the years. Happy Birthday Sir
Happy Birthday & Thanks for Serving AMERICA
Happy Birthday Mr. Frank!
Thank you for your service!
Keep on with your music!
So much appreciation to this Man and his Brothers in Arms…
May god bless you sir !!! Thank you sir you are truly a inspiration to all of mankind!!!!
Happy Birthday. Thank you for your service.