Fon B. Huffman, the last survivor from the international Panay Incident of 1937, died Thursday, his family announced. Huffman, born in 1913, celebrated his 95th birthday on Aug. 19. He died peacefully in his sleep at noon in Hacienda Rehabilitation and Care Center. His daughter, Nancy Ferguson, was by his side.The Iowa farm boy who joined the Navy at age 16 was a 24-year-old sailor aboard the USS Panay when it was attacked near Nanking, China, on Dec. 12, 1937, by Imperial Japanese warplanes. In those days, the American gunboat, part of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, patrolled the lawless Yangtze River inland to protect American interests, such as the embassy, under a treaty with the Chinese.
Huffman received a 1-inch shrapnel wound in his right shoulder in that attack but did not immediately report his injury and would not receive his Purple Heart Medal until 1993. Also during the attack, he gave his life jacket to a U.S. newsman from Universal, who had captured newsreel of the attack.
Huffman also was the last survivor of the Yangtze River Patrol, which comprised other U.S. Navy vessels besides the Panay.
He was one of the last remaining survivors of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, which was hardly prepared to stand in the way of the Japanese navy as it conquered territories in the Pacific Ocean early in World War II. "Most of the those guys went away when MacArthur left the Philippines," said Huffman's son-in-law, Steve Ferguson.
During World War II, Huffman was a "tin can man" -- that's what they called the sailors aboard thin-hulled destroyers -- serving in the Atlantic Ocean and later in the Pacific. He was in Bermuda on Dec. 7, 1941.
In the late 1940s, Huffman participated in U.S. nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. He retired in 1949 with the rating of chief boiler man.
Ferguson said Huffman will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to his wife of 61 years, Lillian. Upon learning of the passing of Fon Huffman, many sailors will be wishing this traditional Navy sentiment to him: Fair winds and following seas, Fon.