Recalling the day of infamy

When the first bomb hit, Ken Anderson thought a fuel truck had exploded.

But the then-20-year-old U.S. Navy radioman turned his eyes to the blue Hawaii sky and saw the horrific truth -- a skyline dotted with enemy planes, flying low and fast, dropping bombs on an unsuspecting Pearl Harbor.

"It was a huge shock," said Anderson, a Cape Girardeau resident, now 85. "You could see people dying in the water. Those were our boys. They came at us out of nowhere. It really was a day that changed the world."

Today marks the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a day that saw 3,700 people killed or wounded, 18 ships sunk or severely damaged and nearly 200 planes destroyed. The attack marked the United States' entrance into World War II.

Flags at schools and government buildings will be flown at half-staff today. American Legion Post 63 will toss a memorial wreath into the Mississippi River at 11 a.m. to commemorate the anniversary.

Ken Anderson during his days as a Navy radioman

And survivors, an ever-dwindling number, will remember.

Much of that day for Anderson has become a blur over time. But he recalled what he could, a bit reluctantly, earlier this week. He has saved a photo album, has a newspaper saved -- "War declared," the headline screams -- and has a model of the Consolidated PBY-5A search-and-rescue plane like the one he served on.

Anderson, a South Dakota native, had been stationed in Hawaii with a search-and-rescue plane squadron starting in 1941, serving as a radio operator.

"When they first told me I was going to Hawaii, I thought I was going to be in heaven," Anderson said. "Of course, it wasn't."

Anderson had been working in a hangar in the early morning hours when the bombing began. The first one hit about 50 yards from the hangar. The men rushed outside.

The Monday, Dec. 8, 1941, edition of the St. Louis Star-Times

"We saw them, and they saw us," Anderson said of the Japanese bombers. "We saw those red dots on the planes and the bombs, and it didn't take us long to figure out the rest. For them, it was like shooting ducks in a barrel."

At first, he and the rest of his platoon jumped into the relative safety of a nearby ditch.

"We were scared to death," he said. "Anybody who says they weren't, well, something was wrong with them."

The first wave of the attack, which came at 7:55 a.m. on a Sunday, relented. The men of Anderson's platoon seized the opportunity and ran back near the hangar and strapped machine guns to the tops of the grounded planes.

"We shot back," Anderson said. "One of our men even shot one of their planes down."

By 9:45 a.m., the whole thing was over. It felt much longer to Anderson.

"They left behind one hell of a mess," he said.

Anderson is one of a handful of Pearl Harbor survivors in the Cape Girardeau area. In fact, for the first time, the Missouri Veterans Home has no Pearl Harbor survivors living there. The last one, Lester Bippus, died in August.

About 6,000 Pearl Harbor survivors remain nationwide.

"We're an endangered species," Anderson said, wearing a Pearl Harbor Survivors Association hat. "It won't be long until we're all gone."

But that doesn't change the importance of the day and what it has meant to history, said Dr. Joel Rhodes, an assistant professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University.

"Certainly, in the 20th century, I can't think of a larger event," he said. "As far as a singular event, I'm at a loss to think of one that has more power and more feeling."

Rhodes pointed out that few Americans are old enough to remember the events of 65 years ago, but that doesn't change their consequences.

"It is slipping in relevance as that generation slips away," Rhodes said. "And it has been eclipsed by this generation of folks by 9-11."

But Pearl Harbor brought Americans together in an unprecedented way, thanks largely to President Roosevelt. In his speech to Congress the next day asking for a declaration of war, he called Dec. 7 "a date which will live in infamy." Congress responded promptly with a declaration of war against Japan.

"It really solidified the American character and the American will," Rhodes said. "And from that day on, because it was a sneak attack, the nation has always felt a certain vulnerability. We have been preparing for war ever since. That shadow never lifted."

Today, Americans should remember the sacrifices of veterans of all wars, said Burt Lehman, second vice commander of American Legion Post 63 and a Vietnam War veteran. But Lehman rejects the idea that the importance of the event is fading with the deaths of the Pearl Harbor survivors.

"It will be as equally important 50 years from now," he said. "It won't make any difference if those gentlemen are here or not. These men gave their lives in a surprise attack on our nation. And we responded. We saved the world from Japanese and German domination and eventually Soviet domination."

The American public could learn a lesson from the post-Pearl Harbor generation, he said. While support for World War II was broad and enduring, support for the war in Iraq has faded, a fact that Lehman said hurts him deeply.

"Most people nowadays have no conception of what sacrifice is," he said. "They don't want to hear about it. They don't want to think about it. They're too busy drinking lattes."

In the meantime, Lehman said, Americans today should take time to thank any veteran.

"You may not be able to thank one of the Pearl Harbor survivors, but you should thank any veteran," he said. "It's all about the sacrifice."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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