“I’m honoring them, not myself,” he said. But Chavez said it’s about the people who were lost.
These days, many people treat Chavez and other Pearl Harbor survivors like celebrities, asking them for autographs and photos. “It seemed like I only slept about 10 minutes when she called me and said ‘we’re being attacked.’ And I said ‘who is going to attack us?’ She said ‘the Japanese are here and they’re attacking everything,'” Chavez said. He told his wife not to wake him because he hadn’t gotten any rest during the busy night. The sailors reported the sighting and Chavez went home to sleep. 7, I look out and spotted a submarine that wasn’t supposed to be in that area,” the 104-year-old Chavez said. He remembers noticing with his shipmates that a mysterious submarine was lurking off the harbor. Ray Chavez was out on a minesweeper, the USS Condor, in the early hours before the attack. Downing plans to return to Pearl Harbor Wednesday with a few dozen other survivors to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack that plunged the United States into World War II and left more than 2,300 service people dead. “I thought that would give them more closure that just a cold note, ‘your son was killed in action,'” said Downing, who also served as the ship’s postmaster. Surprise, fear, anger and pride overcame Jim Downing as Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Downing spent two hours fighting fires and checking the name tags of the dead so he could write their families personal notes about how they died. “They just instinctively did the right thing at the right time without any thought about their own lives or safety,” he said. The tactic let the giant battleship slide into mud below. “We were sinking and everything above the water line was on fire,” he said.ĭowning said he felt proud while watching sailors balance the capsizing ship by allowing water to seep in. His ship, the USS West Virginia, was hit by nine torpedoes. “We get together and have a great time and compare our stories,” said Downing, a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Thousands of other servicemen and women and members of the public are expected to attend and watch via a livestream feed.ĭowning said he comes back to Hawaii for the anniversary commemorations to be with his shipmates. the same moment Japanese planes began their assault. Those who gather at the ceremony on a pier overlooking the harbor are expected to observe a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m. And with nowhere to hide, “I was afraid,” he said.ĭowning plans to return to Pearl Harbor Wednesday with a few dozen other survivors to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack that plunged the United States into World War II and left more than 2,300 service people dead. The next aviator might have better aim, Downing remembers thinking. “When he got the right angle, he banked over, turned his machine guns lose,” Downing, now 103, said in an interview at a Waikiki hotel, “But fortunately he didn’t bank far enough so it went right over my head.”
Then a newlywed sailor, he recalled a Japanese plane flying low and slow in his direction as he rushed to his battleship from his home after hearing explosions and learning of the attack on the radio. He says he spent two hours fighting fires and checking the name tags of the dead so he could write their families personal notes about how they died.Surprise, fear, anger and pride overcame Jim Downing as Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. Thousands of servicemen and women and members of the public are also expected to attend the ceremony.ĭowning, a 103-year-old resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado, served on the USS West Virginia, which lost 106 men. into World War II.ĭowning plans to return to Pearl Harbor Wednesday with other survivors to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack that left more than 2,300 service people dead. That's what Pearl Harbor survivor Jim Downing recalls about the attack that plunged the U.S. The president said he will visit the U SS Arizona Memorial later this month with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan. Thousands, including servicemen and women and members of the public, are expected to attend a ceremony at Pearl Harbor on Wednesday to mark the anniversary. Obama said "we can never repay the profound debt of gratitude we owe to those who served on our behalf." More than 2,300 service people died that day. Obama says he and first lady Michelle Obama join Americans in "remembering those who gave their lives" on Dec.
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