Ladislaus "Jim" Seder

During the Korean airlift support 1950-1953, Jim was a Seaboard maintenance rep, initially at Wake Island, and then Honolulu around 1952. I was one of Seaboard's operations reps in Honolulu at that time. I got to know Jim very well. He was always a polite, gentle man with a great sense of humor.

I did not know an interesting facet of his past until recently. He was a Pearl Harbor survivor. At the time, he was in the U.S. Navy and was based on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the bombs were dropping all over the place, the concussion of one of the bombs blew him off his feet and knocked him out. When he finally woke up, he said he was a bloody mess. He got a Purple Heart medal to show for it.