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Pearl Harbor Memories
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Rosella (Nesgis) Asbelle
Was one of 29 Navy nurses stationed at Pearl Harbor.
"Etched in my memory…;. casualties …; some directly to the operating room …; some to the ward beds …;. some to the lanai …; where dead bodies lay like stacks of corded wood. Then I was sent to the Burn Ward where men lay in beds, burns over most or all of their bodies."
Gabriel W. Christie
Awoke in the barracks to the sounds of war.
"I looked up towards the sky and saw a V-formation of airplanes approaching me and dropping their bombs. It was at that moment that I understood the true meaning of the word 'scared.'... I prayed to my God that if I were hit, let it hit me square so that I would not suffer. Then I wondered what my mother would say when she received the word of my death."
J.K. Cowdery
Took refuge in the kitchen of Schofield Barracks.
"We all made for cover …; in the kitchen. After the firing stopped, I saw a hand rise up, pick up a spatula, and turn over two eggs frying on the range, then replace the spatula and again disappear. When it seemed the attack was over, I grabbed a plate and claimed the eggs and sat down to eat my breakfast."
Bill Freudenthal
Memories of a 5-year-old boy.
"I remember a Japanese plane flying over our town in the direction of the harbor. The plane was flying so low and slow that I had a clear look at the pilot. He had the most determined expression on his face that I can ever remember.... my mother said she could have reached up and shook hands with the pilots."
Gordon S. Riess
A high school student in Honolulu, still has souvenir bomb fragments.
"We could see dozens of black specks that were airplanes circling, diving, and rising again. It was an impressive and fearsome ballet, even to someone as young and naive as I....
A small bomb fell across the street, making a crater in the lawn. A Japanese plane caught fire and exploded in midair. Some of the pieces fell nearby. I still have those items, 60 years later."
James E. Barney
As an 11-year-old, watched as the first bomb fell.
"We heard a large explosion. The bomb landed about 300 yards away, hitting the fuel tanks at Wheeler Field. The clock in our kitchen fell off the wall, stopping at 7:50 A.M. The attack at Pearl Harbor started at 7:55 A.M., so I saw the first bomb land of the entire attack."
Carlos Barrera
As he headed for his station on the U.S.S. Argonne, the sights of war were everywhere.
"The battleships had all taken torpedoes and were on fire, dark black smoke sky high and sailors in the water with burning oil all around them. Boats were coming to our pier bringing the dead and the wounded. Some had missing limbs, others burned and flesh hanging over their belts."
Norman Robarr
Aboard the U.S.S. Trever as she moved through the harbor.
"Feel the heat from the burning ships, you can feel the heat way out here in the channel, and look up on the bridge, leaning out the window, our executive officer. He's looking at the battleships and he's crying. I see the tears on his cheeks, I'll bet some of his friends are in those ships."
June Tanaka
A 10-year-old American of Japanese ancestry shares her pain.
"I was a good citizen, and it was with great difficulty for me to bear being called a Jap and an enemy. My father, who was an alien, was interned and sent to the mainland, spending time in various camps until WWII ended. When a marker was proposed to designate the spot where (one) camp was, some veterans of WWII protested. Did those veterans know about the ... many Japanese men who volunteered to serve their country also? It has been proven that they fought bravely with valor."
Eugene E. Wilson
Memories of trying to save those in the bombed-out mess hall at Hickam Field.
"I passed the mess hall, which had taken a direct hit. I saw smoke and firemen stumbling out from the devastation. I saw a friend of mine pulling a wounded man from the building. When I later read the names on the casualty list, I found my friend among those who died. I could not help but speculate he might have survived had he not elected to remain to help other wounded."
Eric Ching
Born and raised in Hawaii, was a 10-year-old observer.
"I saw a screaming shell in a very low horizontal angle hit McCully Drug Store about two miles away, and you could see the wood splinters fly into the air."
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