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Pearl Harbor Memories
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James Evans
A Gunnery sergeant standing watch at Kaneohe Naval Air Station.
"Here comes a Jap plane so close I could see the pilot's teeth as he grinned at me. We made eye contact. I loaded my rifle and got off five rounds. I realized that I wasn't going to hit a plane going a couple hundred miles an hour with an .03 rifle."
William "Bill" Hughes
A radioman 3rd Class on the U.S.S. Utah.
"Jap aircraft were making strafing runs on the hapless sailors. Since our guns had been covered for bombing practice the week before, we could not fire back. At the first lull, I swam for shore, seeking refuge in the pipeline ditch."
Aubrey Mahaney
Stationed aboard the U.S.S. Utah.
"It was a swim to shore through thick oil under fire from the attacking planes. They strafed us in the water. I saw men throw up their arms and go under. Reaching Ford Island, I ducked into a trench to hide. The sights and sounds of defeat were all around."
Warren "Red" Upton
U.S.S. Utah radioman.
"Some of the men tried to reach the pilings by traveling hand over hand down the lines that secured the ship. Some of them were halfway down, when the lines snapped and dropped the men, like flies, into the water below."
James C. Hardwick
Was aboard the U.S.S. Honolulu.
"My most vivid memory is standing on the fantail of the Honolulu overlooking the devastation in the harbor and wondering how long it would take to recover from the shock. I never doubted that the U.S. would wind up victorious, but I thought I might spend the rest of my life in the effort."
Leonide B. "Lee" Soucy
A pharmacist's mate, 2nd class, U.S.S. Utah.
"We quickly ran out of medical supplies. We were in dire need of alcohol to wash off oil-covered wounds. We commandeered liquor from the officers' club…;whiskey, rum, gin and vodka to wash wounds."
Truett L. Davis
Was a seaman, 2nd class, on the U.S.S.Utah.
"For three days we unloaded trucks, bringing in pine boxes containing bodies and parts of bodies. The stench was unbearable, and it took months before I really thought I was rid of the smell."
David P. Smith
A mess cook on the U.S.S. Utah.
"During a lull in the attack I went to a nearby base housing unit where a lady was doing what she could to help survivors. Some were burnt, hurt, and covered with oil…To me she was an angel…;
I found a pair of pants, a shirt, and a pair of shoes. I remember that one sailor came out barefoot wearing a tuxedo."
Joan Stidham Nist
Survived the attack as a child.
"As dusk fell, blackout. No lights. In the darkness that night, broken only by tracer bullets streaking the sky, listening to dots and dashes, we finally slept, tired by the day's tension and afraid of future invasion."
Adolph Mortensen
A junior naval officer, U.S.S. Oklahoma.
"I found myself with four other men in the dispensary with a small pocket of air trapped above the water, our only source of life. The ship's carpenter, Mr. Austin, weighing over 200 pounds, knew he'd never make it through ... He reached down and held the porthole open for me…;knowing full well that his minutes were few."
Harold J. Kennedy
An officer, 6th Army 24th Division.
"The next plane that came by found us ready and waiting. We all stepped out, aimed our pistols and fired en masse … We were all so shook up that we fired at every flying object ... We saw some planes in the distance going down in smoke and flames."
Wilfred J. Toczko, Sr.
A private 1st Class and air mechanic 2nd class, Hickam Field.
"The Japs had cut our water supply and we had no water to cool that
gun …; so, we ran to a Coke machine, grabbed enough bottles of Coca Cola
to fill the water tank reservoir of that machine gun and started firing away."
George Hettinger
An electricians mate 2nd Class, U.S.S. Utah.
"We had a front row seat (to) the attack from the sewer line trench. As we watched and saw Jap planes get hit, boy, we would all yell! … Somehow somebody got a bottle of whiskey and we started passing it up and down."
Chester A. Shurtleff, Oakland, California
Worried over invasion on the West Coast.
We were ordered to pull down the blinds. No outside lights…;even the Bay Bridges turned off their lights. To hear an airplane overhead was to fear that the Japanese had arrived. It didn't ease the anxiety, when later, some areas of the Coast were fired upon by submarines."
Hobie MacQuarrie
A California child missing his Japanese schoolmates.
"Tuesday - all of the Japanese kids were gone. It was as if they all moved away at the same time. Which is exactly what happened. It was hard for me to understand."
Frances Kesner
A child at night, several days after the initial attack.
"When I went to bed one night, I heard planes flying over head and asked my dad if these planes were going to drop bombs on us. This was the time for blackouts and air raids. When you are a young child it doesn't take much to create fear."
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