(Yesterday, December, 7 1941 a date which will live in infamy.)
God yes, I don't know which is a worst death. Like those guys on the Oklahoma.
Pitch black, and that water coming in...Coming up on, on the deck on the floor. On the aft
deck. No one escaped or anything just a slow death.
God, after seventy years... (Choked up) believe me...
(United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces
of the empire of Japan.)
I saw these high level bombers coming over. And that's when we took off for the parking
lot. My bunk... was right up in here on the second
floor. That's the door I came out. There used to be a sidewalk
right out to this way. Nearly 2 million people make the journey to
Pearl Harbor each year. Only a few bring Pearl Harbor with them.
Sometimes I can't remember what you told me last week. But I can remember everything,
dates and everything else leading back to seventy years ago when I was
a seventeen year old that came here to Pearl Harbor.
Just hours after touching down in Hawaii. (make a line hear) eighteen Wisconsin veterans
make history. We have never seen a group of survivors this
big come back to Pearl Harbor from one state, this is a first.
The veterans gather in a place known as contemplation circle. In the distance the USS Arizona Memorial.
Triggering vivid horrific memories of that firey sunday morning more than seventy years
ago. At the very end over there is the sea plane
hangar.He dropped his bomb in that sea plane hangar, and there was a great
big ball of fire a big puff of black smoke then all hell broke loose. There was chaos
is what is was. And all I could see was thoose rising suns flying around. Wow!!
Those Japanese planes came in from here and here and here. I don't know how
they did not run in to each other there was so many.
There was one fellow kneeling on the floor and I grabbed him and I said it's too late
to pray now, we got to get to get the hell of here. We
were hit by a torpedo. We took a lot of hits. You take the Arizona, those guys got up
and had their breakfast or whatever and they are still right there.
Of all the times I have been here to Pearl Harbor and Hawaii. I don't think there has
been a time I felt so complete in what has happened here in the last couple of days.
And I go to my grave and I am sure I will never forget.
By land and by sea the veterans went back, back to where they served, back to where they
survived. At first I thought it wasn't going to affect
me much...but it has. It’s tough to see all the misery that was created.
It changed our life’s so much.
More than seventy years after the Japanese attack most of these men meet for the very
first time. (What ship were you on?) The connection instant the bond forever lasting.
We have a special group people who went through that terrible thing and and survived it and
have lived this long...
