One of my maternal uncles was at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th, 1941. He was stationed to the U.S.S. Arizona on that fateful day. He had had shore leave on Saturday and had not returned to the ship by early Sunday morning. Some nice little wahine saved his life. This same gentleman stayed in battleships throughout the war, ending up in the 3rd Fleet and assigned to U.S.S. Missouri. He is one of those sailors shown lining the ship’s structures, watching the surrender being signed.
The greatest generation, indeed!
The Arizona was my grandpa’s ship in the mid to late 1920s, worked down in the engine room. By the time Pearl Harbor was attacked he was working as a crane operator in a factory that made tanks.