Ira Schab

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Ira John “Ike” Schab Jr. was born on 4 July 1920 in Chicago, Illinois. Following his father into naval service, he joined the United States Navy in 1939, after successfully auditioning as a tuba player. He attended the Navy School of Music in Washington, D.C., and served with Navy Band Unit 13, initially aboard the light cruiser USS Raleigh (CL-7). When the cruiser entered the shipyard, the band transferred to the destroyer tender USS Dobbin (AD-3).

On the morning of 7 December 1941, twenty-one-year-old Schab was aboard Dobbin at Pearl Harbor, getting dressed and expecting a visit from his brother, who served at a nearby naval radio station. When the alarm sounded, he went on deck and saw Japanese aircraft attacking the harbour and USS Utah capsizing. He hurried below for ammunition and joined a chain of sailors passing it to the ship’s anti-aircraft gunners. Three members of Dobbin’s crew died as a result of the attack.

Schab continued serving in the Pacific throughout the war, with postings taking him to the New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, the Mariana Islands and Okinawa. He left the Navy in 1947 and studied aerospace engineering at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He subsequently worked for General Dynamics, contributing to missile systems and the Apollo space programme. In 1953, he married Patricia Trotter, with whom he raised five children.

In later life, Schab returned to Pearl Harbor to honour those who had died there. In December 2016, the U.S. Pacific Fleet Band appointed him honorary bandmaster, fulfilling an ambition he had held during his naval service. His final anniversary visit took place in 2024, when, aged 104, he stood from his wheelchair to salute the fallen.

Ira Schab died on 20 December 2025 at his home in Beaverton, Oregon, aged 105. He was among the last surviving witnesses to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the last surviving member of Navy Band Unit 13.