Funeral Services Held For Local Pearl Harbor Survivor Frank Emond, 104

January 21, 2023

Funeral services were held Friday for local Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Emond who passed away January 10 at age 104.

Following the funeral service at Oak Lawn Funeral Home, a graveside service was held at Barrancas National Cemetery.

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 USS Pennsylvania. CWO4 USN (RET.) Emond, 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.

He remained a music man; sometimes leading the music at Gonzalez Methodist  and performing with the Pensacola Civic Band.

Last May, Emond broke his own world record when he led the Pensacola Civic Band in the seventh annual Pensacola Memorial Day Concert at the Community Maritime Park amphitheater.

He held the Guinness World Record as “World’s Oldest Conductor” for leading  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”. He set the previous record at age 103 last November in Washington, D.C.

Photos for, and NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

3 Responses to “Funeral Services Held For Local Pearl Harbor Survivor Frank Emond, 104”

  1. Molino resident on January 21st, 2023 7:56 pm

    A true American. His Country and family should be proud.

  2. EMD on January 21st, 2023 10:47 am

    What an amazing person. I wish I had known him.

  3. Duke of Wawbeek on January 21st, 2023 7:49 am

    A paradigm of the greatest generation.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News