Living With Pearl Harbor Memories

Pearl Harbor survivor Edmund “Gene” McGuire, age 82, says one of his biggest fears is that future generations of Americans will forget about him and other survivors of one of the most dramatic military setbacks in United States history.

Today, as the nation commemorates the 58th anniversary of Japan’s unprovoked attack, McGuire, who lives in Mission Viejo, wonders: Will the men who died at Pearl Harbor still be honored after the survivors disappear?

“That morning, it seemed like the world was coming to an end,” said McGuire, the memories still all too vivid many decades later.

Just as the Dec. 7, 1941, disaster forever changed the way the United States prepares for war, it is a badge of honor for men like McGuire.

The U.S. servicemen who lived through the surprise attack that killed more than 2,400 countrymen formed their own veterans group, called the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn., which has chapters throughout the country. They are the old men in Hawaiian shirts and white slacks seen at veterans events.

“We didn’t want anybody to forget what happened that day,” said McGuire, a member of Chapter 14, based in Los Alamitos.

“Remember Pearl Harbor!” became a national rallying cry. And in the dark days at the beginning of the United States’ entry into World War II, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor stirred Americans to respond with patriotism and a belief in their country.

This was true even in McGuire’s hometown of Greenup, Ky., population 1,000, where there were separate Methodist churches for families of Union Civil War veterans, like McGuire’s, and Confederate vets.

McGuire, who was a fire control man aboard the cruiser San Francisco, will be among many veterans from all wars to commemorate the attack at Pearl Harbor today at events throughout Southern California and the nation.

At the time of the attack, McGuire had been assigned to help direct the San Francisco’s 8-inch guns on enemy targets. But that day in 1941, the ship was unarmed and undergoing an overhaul across the channel from Ford Island, where U.S. battleships were anchored on Battleship Row.

“We were getting ready for the raising of the colors at 8 a.m., when somebody shouted ‘Air raid!’ and general quarters was sounded. Some of the guys tried fighting back with .30-caliber machine guns, but it was futile,” McGuire said.

He said he scrambled to the New Orleans, a nearby cruiser, and helped train a 5-inch gun against incoming Japanese planes. The sailors managed to fire a few rounds, but hit nothing.

McGuire looked north, across the channel, and saw the battleship Arizona destroyed in a fiery explosion. About 1,100 men perished on the Arizona, which sank. A total of 18 U.S. ships were sunk or damaged, and 200 aircraft were destroyed or damaged, most of them on the ground.

McGuire said he could hear the moans of the wounded and dying around him, and curses of the men who flailed helplessly at the Japanese.

“It was the most awful, frightening feeling I’ve ever had,” he said.

But McGuire and the San Francisco, affectionately known as “the Frisco” by its crew, went on to exact their share of revenge. The San Francisco earned 17 battle stars in World War II for involvement in major battles. Of all the Navy ships that engaged the enemy in the war, only the carrier Enterprise earned more battle stars, 20.

The San Francisco was also one of a handful of ships that earned the presidential unit citation. In an epic night battle on Nov. 13, 1942, off Guadalcanal, the San Francisco and 12 other Navy ships attacked a stronger Japanese fleet. The American sailors were outgunned, but not outfought.

“We lost 10 of our ships that night, but the Frisco alone sank a light cruiser with the first salvo. We set another on fire, disabled a battleship that was sunk the next day by a submarine and sank a destroyer. We forced the Japanese to flee,” McGuire recalled with pride.

During the battle, the San Francisco was hit by 45 enemy shells, which ignited 25 fires. That night, McGuire earned a Silver Star for rescuing a badly wounded officer, even though his own clothes were on fire.

Last week, McGuire was among 16 veterans of conflicts from World War II to the Persian Gulf War who spoke about their experiences to 317 students from La Paz Intermediate School in Mission Viejo. Teacher Robert Bachle began the personal history project, in which vets relate their war experiences, six years ago.

“We use the veterans as primary sources for the kids. It’s important that the kids hear their stories, because it’s one thing to read about something in a history book and another to hear somebody who experienced that event tell you about his experience,” Bachle said. “The most accurate version of a historical event comes from somebody who was there. Plus, many World War II vets are dying off, and it’s important that students hear their stories.”