Rolland E. Briar, one of the last remaining Pearl Harbor survivors, died on August 1. He was 104 years old. With his passing, there are now 10 Pearl Harbor survivors, and all of them are centenarians.
Today, we remember Rolland Briar of Green Bay, Wisconsin, one of the few remaining survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rolland recently passed away at the age of 104.
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) August 17, 2026
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in February 1941. On the morning of December 7, he was aboard the USS Whitney… pic.twitter.com/VQMqqr69kz
Briar was born in Marinette, Wisconsin, in 1922 and graduated from Marinette High School in 1940. Afterward, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and completed basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois.
He was stationed in the Pacific and was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. Briar recalled that day. ""It was a Sunday morning. I was getting ready to go to Mass on Ford Island when the planes started coming in. Fortunately, we weren't there because that building was hit … during the attack," he told the Green Bay Press Gazette in 2001.
In a Facebook post, the Pearl Harbor National Memorial remembered Briar and shared more of his recollections from December 7. "Because I was with flag allowance, we had no battle stations,” Briar said. “Due to the strafing by the Japanese planes, we were ordered to go below deck as some were killed on deck. We had five destroyers tied next to us and would have been a prize target." He continued serving on the USS Whitney after Pearl Harbor and later transferred to the USS Markab.
After the war, Brier went to college in Dubuque, Iowa, and graduated from Northwestern University before receiving additional training at Harvard University. According to his obituary, Briar was a talented musician and gifted pianist who played in his high school and college orchestras. He also loved the Green Bay Packers, and attended both the dedication of Lambeau Field and the 1957 Ice Bowl.
On September 13, 1947, Briar married Joyce Boivin, and they had three daughters: Debra, Sharon, and Bette. Joyce Briar passed away in 1990.
Briar worked as an accountant for Green Bay Box, which later became Green Bay Packaging, and would take his family camping and on road trips across the U.S. Briar also loved playing cards, including Bridge, Sheepshead, Smear, and Pinochle.
Rolland is survived by his daughters as well as eight grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
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