Pearl Harbor Survivor!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I walked into a room to visit with the folks inside.  There was an elderly lady whom was the patient laying in bed unconscious.  Her husband, who we will call “Jack,” was there sitting with her and taking care of her needs. He showed a lot of love and compassion for his dying wife. Jack was a very nice, and talkative ninety-year-old man.

            When I said that he is a talker, I mean he talked for three hours non-stop!  Then when his brother showed up, he talked even longer!  But he was a very interesting man and it was a joy to listen to him!

            Jack was not just a nice elderly man, he was a Pearl Harbor survivor!  Very few people can say that now.  Most of the men at Pearl Harbor on December seventh, nineteen forty-one, are now passed away.  So, it was quit an honor for me to meet one of the few surviving ones! 

            During the Pearl Harbor attack by planes of the Japanese Imperial Navy, Jack was below decks on the Battleship Nevada.  He was below decks on this quiet Sunday morning playing poker with several other crewmen. 

They were sitting at the “poker table” all in their standard white navy underwear! That’s because in nineteen-forty-one, there was no air conditioning!  Not only that, but they were serving on an all metal battleship that would absorb the heat.

So, because of no air conditioning it was common for the guy that were off-duty to stay in their underwear all day.  Playing poker for pennies was a very common game back then, since pennies was all that young navy guys could afford!

During the start of the attack, they heard the planes coming, but the guys just thought that the U.S. Navy planes were flying that Sunday morning.  They were sitting in a large Navy base after all, so they just kept playing poker. 

When the bombs started to explode, the “battle stations” sirens went off!  Confused about the explosions and sirens, they ran up the stairs.  When they got topside, the seen the planes flying overhead with big red balls on their wings! 

That meant that instead of American planes as they thought, they were Japanese Navy planes! When they had seen that they then knew exactly what was going on.  They were at war! 

Jack said that everyone ran to their battle stations.  He was near the edge of the ship at the same time that a Japanese torpedo stuck the ship and exploded!  He was thrown up and away from the ship, and landed in the water.  The explosion actually saved his life since it blew him clear of the ship!  As the battle continued, he watched it surrounded by burning oil and gasoline!

As he was floating in the water, his ship, the Battleship Nevada, started to sail away.  Its captain intended to take his ship out of the harbor and into open water.  They didn’t make it, after taking on more battle damage, the captain ordered his ship to ground on a sand bar so it would not sink in the channel!

Jack then swam to the shore and was safe and sound!  He said that after the battle, he was reassigned to other ships in the war and had seen every major battle of the war.  His brother also served in the Navy, but he only worked a typewriter for the entire war.

Jack then told me a story that he had kept secret for all of his life.  He said that when his ship was in Alaska, he got to go on shore leave, and got very drunk.  Being drunk, he got into a fistfight with someone and was arrested by Navy shore patrol.   He was always embarrassed by that incident!

Just after he shared that story with me, his ninety-two-year-old brother walks into the room.  Both of these gentlemen were in their nineties, but they were in excellent health and could walk around as well as anyone.  His brother is also very friendly and talkative. 

As we visited, his brother told us a story about his Navy service.  He also had shore leave on day and also got drunk and got into a fistfight!  He also was arrested by Navy shore patrol!  It was almost the identical story!  His brother also had kept it a secret from his family all of these years! 

Jack smiled and looked at his brother in total amazement!  Jack told him About the tale he had just shared with me, almost the same story!  Both of these men had the same incident in the Navy and both had kept it a secret until now!

The three of us just laughed and had a wonderful moment together!  Both of these men relieved themselves of their past.  It was certainly a special moment for me, since I was the third party who was the catalyst for this special moment of sharing!

Do you know a Pearl Harbor survivor?  Can you tell me about it in the comments section?

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Brother Roop