Bay Area survivors recount bombing at Pearl Harbor
Seventy-three years ago this Sunday, young sailors, soldiers and Marines woke to the sound of explosions, gunfire and swooping airplanes. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,500 people, devastated America's Pacific fleet, and ushered the U.S. into World War II.
Two Bay Area men, part of a dwindling group, recounted their experiences at Pearl Harbor with ABC7 News.
On Dec. 8, while President Franklin Roosevelt was asking Congress to declare war on Japan, ships of America's powerful Pacific fleet were still smoldering at Pearl Harbor.
A day earlier, a surprise attack by Japanese bombers and torpedo planes cut a corridor of destruction.
Lafayette's Richard "Johnny" Johnson was a young sailor on board the USS San Francisco getting ready to head for the beach.
"And I saw these airplanes coming over the mountainside and they're all lined up and they are moving kind of slow, but there are so many airplanes flying around Hawaii anyway that it didn't mean much at first," Chief Petty Officer Johnson said.
Those planes were headed for battleship row, and Johnson watched the bombs begin to fall.
"Two bombs dropped on the Arizona and it began smoking," he said.
One of those bombs plowed through the deck and landed in the vault were Arizona's shells and gunpowder was stored. A massive blast destroyed the ship and killed nearly 1,200 members of the crew.
Concord resident John Tait was below deck on the cruiser USS St. Louis, when the skipper decided to get out of Pearl, into deeper water where she could maneuver. They nearly ended up sailing to their doom.
"There was a two man submarine waiting for a ship and they fired two torpedoes at us, but there was a coral reef between us so the coral reef took the hit." Chief Petty Officer Tait said.
For three days St. Louis was at sea, chasing enemy sightings that turned out to be false.
On Dec. 10, they sailed back into the harbor to a scene of carnage.
"We just didn't think the Japanese would be that bold to come all that way," Tait said. "We thought we were impregnable."
After four long years of continual battles, the victorious sailors, soldiers and marines sailed home with a firm conviction not to be caught unawares like that again. For their efforts they'd be labeled the greatest generation. But, that generation is disappearing.
These men are in their eighties and nineties and there may be fewer than 2,000 Pearl Harbor veterans still alive. With age comes frailty, but also wisdom and forgiveness.
Tait and family were stationed in Japan for three years.
"When they found out that I was a Pearl Harbor survivor they were taken aback, but we got along good with them," he said. "They're a wonderful people and it's their warlords and our warlords that I don't like."
Through the flames of war, these men made lasting friendships and saw incredible sights. And age is now doing what combat couldn't. Those who remain want us to remember a simple, but often overlooked truth: No one hates war more than the people who have to fight them.
