Pearl Harbor memories retold

Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese military. While for some this may just be an event read about in books, for Larry Katz it's a very real memory.

Katz, now 93, was drafted into the U.S. Navy Communications division in January of 1941. Katz had been a radio major in college in New York with plans to work in the booming radio industry when his training led to his being drafted into the Navy.

"I just didn't want to be drafted into the Army. So they came and signed me up for communication reserves with the Navy," Katz said. "My training made me a perfect candidate."

Katz spent a majority of the year in training before being stationed at Pearl Harbor. On Friday, Dec. 5, 1941, he and a friend went to spend the weekend in town. On the morning of the 7th, the two men were getting ready to head back to base when they heard over the radio that all military personnel were to report back to their bases immediately. Katz said they jumped in a cab and headed to the base. As the cab raced the men back to where they were stationed, Japanese pilots began flying over the highway, shooting at anything that moved.

"I turned around and all I could see were the red tracer bullets pouring down on us," said Katz.

Katz said the two got out of the cab and ran the rest of the way to the dock, but once they arrived, they were informed that they were "land-locked" and couldn't report to their respective posts for several hours. Once back on their ships, Katz said they spent the first several hours helping carry out those who had been wounded during the attack. But according to Katz, that wasn't the worst part.

"When we got back aboard ship we spent several hours carrying out wounded men. I got balled out because I was late, but there wasn't anything we could do about that. We were on lock-down," Katz said, "Probably one of the worst things though was that we no longer had a water supply."

According to Katz, during the attack one of the ships that sunk severed the water line that ran from the main land and left those aboard without clean water.

"We had to go get water from the pool and purify it to be able to drink it," said Katz.

Katz, among a rapidly shrinking number of Pearl Harbor survivors, asks that everyone remember what happened on that day and not let the memory fade away.

cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com