Pearl Harbor survivor celebrates 100th birthday with canons and square dancing The friends and family of Herb Elfring gathered to celebrate his 100th birthday. (Gabi Broekema | MLive.com/TNS)
Dozens of vehicles crawled down Courtland Street in Jackson, their drivers and passengers honking and waving to Herb Elfring, a World War II Pearl Harbor survivor who sat in a high-back padded chair on the sidewalk outside First United Methodist Church. It was Elfring’s 100th birthday.
Other military veterans later stood in a line saluting Elfring as he rang a bell to honor survivors of Japan’s Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into World War II. Elfring also fired artillery as part of a cannon salute.
The Jackson community came out on the chilly Saturday afternoon to celebrate Elfring century on Earth with food consisting of sliders, pies, cookies and cupcakes that were arranged to form a “100.” The Kiwanis Club pitched in milkshakes for the crowd, since they were invented the same year as Elfring was born: 1922.
Lastly, no birthday would be complete without dancing. Single Squares brought out a dance floor and got Elfring moving with square dancing, one of his favorite hobbies. Elfring smiled and danced with his partners, seeming to have the time of his life.
“You only get up this way one time,” he said. “And who knows what to expect with that.
“I thought it was just another birthday, but I guess it isn’t. It was more than that.”
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