[ PEARL HARBOR / FADING VOICES ]

WITNESS TO INFAMY

Truett L. Davis

USS Utah seaman 2nd class

"This would be the most memorable and horrible experience of my life. For three days we unloaded trucks bringing in pine boxes containing bodies and parts of bodies. The bodies, of course, had not been prepared for burial and as we carried them, the leakage coming out of them would get all over us. The stench was unbearable and it took months before I really thought I was rid of the smell."

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James Foster

USS Arizona gun pointer

"I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see anybody, but I could hear them hollering all down below. They were screaming and pounding. Cursing. And the noise of the bombs was deafening. Bang! Bang! Boom! Boom! The ship would just jerk and toss every time a bomb hit ..."

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Aubrey E. Mahaney

USS Utah

"A Navy lieutenant, clad only in his pajamas, had a .45-caliber pistol strapped to his side. He ordered us to set up machine gun nests. Instead of lying there in the ditch, we got busy. The sights and sounds of defeat were all around. The devastation on Ford Island was awful. There was smoke and fire, everywhere. When we got to see all that had happened, we were just sick. The confusion was hard to describe. You would see shipmates being killed ... It was horrifying!"

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Bill Hughes

USS Utah

"The tumultuous explosion that rocked the ship almost threw us out of our bunks."

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Warren Upton

USS Utah

"I was reaching over someone's cot to get my shaving gear out of my locker when the first terrific impact jarred the ship."