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‘Never forget’ - Floyd Welch, Connecticut’s last known Pearl Harbor survivor, dies at age 99

The attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy veteran Floyd Welch said in 2016, “is something we should never forget -- even when all of us are gone.”

Connecticut’s last known survivor of the Japanese air and sea attack that launched the U.S. into World War II died Monday at his home in East Lyme. He was 99.

Welch was a hero of the Dec. 7, 1941 battle, scrambling to save fellow sailors as Japanese torpedo bombers shredded U.S. Navy vessels on Battleship Row.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who knew Welch, said his “love of country and dedication to service is an example for all Americans to follow.