68 Years Later – Attack on Pearl Harbor

December 7th, 2009 |

Author: Toni

It’s the 68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. There were 2,350 people killed and the attack drew the United States into World War II. Our WWII Veterans are quickly dying away, one way to read their stories is to go to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Project.

Al Bodenlos’ Story:

Early in the morning on December 7th at the Army-Navy YMCA, loudspeakers ordered all military personnel to report to their organizations immediately. Al dutifully caught the Schofield Shuttle. When the bus neared the shores of Pearl Harbor, all hell was breaking loose. M.P.’s stopped and stormed the shuttle and ordered everyone to get off and to take cover immediately. Al then Iearned that the harbor was under attack and the Japanese pilots were shooting anything moving. Al recalls that the planes were flying so low that you could see the faces of the pilots. They shot at but missed the shuttle by inches, bullets whizzed all around and everyone dove for safety into a nearby ditch. Al was scared and witnessed the horror of the tragedy developing in the harbor. He vividly remembers the USS Arizona blowing up and the USS Oklahoma rolling over as he helplessly watched other ships sink to the harbor floor.

The attack appeared to end, so everyone re-boarded the shuttle and proceeded to Schofield Barracs. The second wave started when Al arrived at his unit. The 804th was already deployed at all five military airfields. Al was also the Company courier, and he delivered messages from the command post by motorcycle to the airfields for two full days with no rest. He spent the rest of the war island hopping, building and repairing airfields captured from the Japanese. His faith pulled him through.

If you have a relative or friend who is a survivor of Pearl Harbor get their story added to this database for future generations and history.

PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS PROJECT

Reposted from 12/7/2008.

I had a comment posted in 2008 noting the photo album for Lt John William Finn who is the only living Pearl Harbor Medal of Honor recipient. You can read Lt. Finn’s story here.