Survivors’ memories
remain vivid

Now 83, one ex-sailor recounts
the anguish and heroism of
that fateful Sunday morning

Marvin Kaufman, 83, was making only his second visit to the Arizona Memorial yesterday morning.

"I figured at my age I better do it now," he said.

Kaufman, a resident of Vancouver, Wash., joined the Navy when he was 19 and caught a ride to Pearl Harbor in June 1941 on board the USS Arizona.

He said the 10-day voyage from Southern California was "very comfortable because it (the ship) was so big."

Kaufman attended one of two memorial services at Pearl Harbor yesterday, beginning at 7:55 a.m. Ñ the moment Japanese warplanes attacked Oahu 63 years ago.

Vice Adm. Gary Roughead, deputy commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, gave the anniversary address on the Arizona Memorial.

The sailors and Marines killed on the Arizona make up nearly half of the Americans lost on Dec. 7, 1941.

On shore at the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, the guest speakers were author and U.S. Naval Institute historian Paul Stillwell, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye and Ronald Sugar, chief executive and president of Northrop Grumman Corp. and national chairman of the Pearl Harbor Memorial.

Pearl Harbor observed a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., followed by a salute and honors by the crew of its newest destroyer, USS Chung Hoon, as it steamed by the white Arizona Memorial.

On Dec. 7, 1941 Kaufman was assigned to a destroyer tender, the USS Whitney which was anchored a half mile away from the Arizona.

On that Sunday morning his assignment was to hoist the ensign at the bow of the Whitney at eight in the morning.

"As I stood on deck I had the ensign folded in my arms and this plane came skimming close to the surface of the water. I thought there was something wrong because we didn't train that early."

"When he (the pilot) raised his wing I saw an orange ball and I knew we were at war."

The Dec. 7, 1941, attack came in two waves. The first wave struck at 7:55 a.m. and lasted 30 minutes. An hour later the second wave hit Oahu and lasted another hour.

Japanese aircraft sank or damaged 21 American warships, killed 2,405 military personnel and civilians, and destroyed 164 planes and damaged another 159. The Japanese crippled the Pacific Fleet.

The battleship Arizona was hit by a 1,786-pound, armor-piercing bomb and sank 40 feet to the harbor floor.

Kaufman saw the Arizona get hit by Japanese bombers and watched in amazement as the battleship seemed to rise out of the water.

Kaufman, one of 35 Pearl Harbor survivors who attended the ceremony on the memorial said he and his shipmates on the Whitney spent Dec. 7 rescuing sailors from the oily waters of the harbor.

"We pulled out one guy, who I think was from the (USS) Nevada, he was covered with oil, only had on his underwear, but had a .45 strapped around his waist."

Roughead, in his 10-minute address, spoke of the "tremendous valor" and "remarkable sacrifices by so many" demonstrated 63 years ago.

He reminded the nearly 100 Pearl Harbor survivors, foreign diplomats, military personnel and politicians that "tyranny and oppression were gaining strongholds throughout the world with little check," before the bombs starting falling on Pearl Harbor.

Roughead said that Pearl Harbor marked the entry by the United States into World War II.

"That brave battle for liberty saved us and continued for six decades. The battle is still on.

"That is because Americans, as they have throughout history, will always be willing to battle tyranny for the protection of our freedom."

The hour-long ceremony included a flyover by F-15 jet fighters of the Hawaii Air National Guard, the playing of echo taps and 21-rifle salute by Hawaii Marines.

Kaufman, in describing his experiences on Dec. 7 said, "I guess the best word for what happened is on my license plate which says, Pearl Harbor survivor."

Inouye speaks at site
of haunting memories

Tears ran down the wrinkled cheeks of 81-year-old Wayne Pease yesterday as he recalled Dec. 7, 1941.

"I had a bird's eye view to watch five battleships go down," said Pease, who was an 18-year-old seaman aboard the destroyer USS Sicard when Japan launched its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

Pease, of Fort Myers, Fla., was among the dwindling number of survivors who returned to the site of their most haunting memories to honor fallen comrades. Ceremonies were held on shore and on the gleaming white monument straddling the submerged USS Arizona.

"On December the 6th, I was a boy," he said. "On December the 7th, I became a man, suddenly. I grew up in one day. I grew up in two hours, you might say."

The anniversary took on added meaning yesterday, with U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, saluted the nation's resilience, then and now.

"It was a day when weaker souls would have surrendered," Inouye said of the attack that thrust the United States into World War II. "It was a day that gave real meaning to our name, the United States of America."

He added: "Today, the obstructions and challenges are many -- the ugly voices of hatred and the unconscionable actions of terrorism around us intending to make us afraid."

Inouye, recipient of the Medal of Honor, spoke to more than 1,000 people at the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center to commemorate the attack.

Just 17 and living in Honolulu at the time, Inouye later lost his right arm serving in Europe as a member of the Army's distinguished 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost entirely of Japanese Americans.

"The story of this day must be repeated, not only to recall the threat and destruction, but it's important to remember the resilience and the unwavering spirit of the American people," Inouye said.