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Episode #733 of Hometown Heroes, airing May 13-16, 2022, serves as a tribute to Pearl Harbor survivor Mickey Ganitch, who passed away May 4th at the age of 102.
If Mickey’s tireless commitment to keeping the history of Pearl Harbor and World War II alive touched you, and you’d like to send condolences to his wife, Barbara, you can mail them to:
Barbara Ganitch
15608 Cranbrook St.
San Leandro, CA 94579
I have an intuition that the young teenagers of today will end up being the ‘greatest generation’ of this century, in terms of a possible coming global depression and world war..and I hope this intuition is in error
We were honored to meet Mickey Ganitch during one of his tour visits onboard the USS Massachusetts in Fall River, MA. I was an instructor with the Navy OCS school and he talked to my students for hours. We were all super proud and humbled to hear his story. We put his name in our class shirt and coin and we would like to give it to his family. Along with the photos we took of him. Ill leave my email below if anyone knows anything in regards to his family.
This is definitely a “late” reply> I am learning some things about the computer, other than basic, and found myself in this section. I remember the day that we saw all of your cadets running uphill to reach us before we “disappeared” and you people were giving up your lunch hour to talk to Mickey.
My daughter, Bonnie< and I would be very appreciative of your kindness for remembering him. The address is: 15608 Cranbrook St., San Leandro, CA 94579.
Our front room has turned into a museum – with all if his awards, proclamations, presented flags, etc.
Paul, well done !….today, June 7th I will be having our Pearl Harbor Survivors lunch in San Rafael. Mickey will be there in spirit.
We will carry on thanking all the Vet’s that made it possible for us to remain free.
Thank you Paul for what you do for them and for us.
Allan McIsaac
What a great man, and someone to look up to.
A truw hero. To hear hear him speak and tell the history of Pearl Harbor is so intense and personal, like youe there with him
I’m sorry to hear about Mickey’s passing-it hurts my heart to lose this special man. Before I retired I worked at Mt. Eden High School and Mickey would visit each year to tell his story/our history to the students. From the minute he started talking he had our students attention. We all felt it was very special to share this time with
him-the students were always engrossed in his recounting his experience during the Pearl Harbor attack and life experiences. Over the years of his visits he had touched so many our students lives with his history telling. We lost a treasure the day Mickey passed.
I am a member of Toastmaster’s International where we practice public speaking. One day last year our topic was Pearl Harbor. I was on the agenda to speak. In preparation,I did my research to gather highlights to add to my speech. In this research the name of Mickey Ganitch continued to be top and center. The more I learned about Mickey and watched the YouTube videos, I was completely taken by his personality, positive energy and how he told his story. As a result, Mickey was the highlight of my speech. Today I went online to see what Mickey was up to on this Veterans Day and was saddened to read of his passing in May. I cried and I never met him but his charm and positivity made me feel like I met him in person several times. What an amazing person. Thank you Mickey for your service. Thank for your “Remember Pearl Harbor” song on YouTube.
I did a story on Mickey several years ago for Story of My Life. His story stuck out from all the others, and we were in communications for quite a while after. I called him a couple of years ago to return an old photo I still had and he regaled me with some more stories. What a kind, generous, and loving person he was. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. His story about playing football when the sirens went off, and being up in the “bird’s nest” in nothing but his football uniform while planes, bullets, bombs and dive planes were all around him is a terrifying and impressive ordeal. The stuff he saw that day is the stuff of legends and movies, except it really happened, and many of his friends died that day. Mickey went on to live a long and happy life, beloved by many. Godspeed, Mickey. Thank you for your service, your huge smile, your kind spirit, and your wonderful storytelling.
Thank you for this. Uncle Mickie was such a good man. It is so great to hear his voice again.
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