A Bond Decades Strong

About 200 World War II veterans who survived the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack gathered in Costa Mesa on Friday to catch up with each other, reminisce and renew their bond.

“Being able to talk to these fellows, it means so much,” said Louis “Cliff” Shannon, 82, who flew from San Jose for the 40th annual California Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn. convention, which continues through Sunday. “When you’re fighting a war, you see a lot of people killed, and it’s very difficult to talk about at first. But then you find that everyone has a similar story, and that made it a little easier.”

Edward Sowman, 84, of Westminster recounted being on the deck of the USS New Orleans, on his way to breakfast, when a Japanese bomber zoomed past the port side of the ship.

“Time almost stood still,” he said. Then bells started ringing, and Sowman heard, “All hands man your battle stations! This is not a drill! This is not a drill!”

Shannon, who was on the same ship, added, “The Navy still owes me a breakfast. I never did get to eat that morning.”

So that the memories of Sowman, Shannon and their colleagues are kept alive, the convention this year invited 33 high school juniors for one-on-one conversations with the veterans Friday.

Sergio Morelos, 16, of Paramount High School said he asked a veteran what he thought about the United States forcing residents of Japanese ancestry to live in camps during the war and dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The answer: Both were necessary.

“It was interesting what he had to say,” Morelos said. “We had different opinions, but he lived through these things. And I don’t know that I’d be strong enough to go through what he went through.”

Some of the survivors were not much older at the time than the students who chatted with them. John Johnsen of Yorba Linda was just 19 on that Sunday morning nearly 60 years ago. He was on “side-cleaning” duty--circling the USS Nevada in a tiny boat, scrubbing off oil and debris--when motion in the sky caught his eye.

“I saw an airplane dive at Ford Island and saw something drop,” said Johnsen, now 79. “At first I wondered what was going on, but when I saw the explosion, I knew.”

He made his way back on board and alerted his captain. Almost immediately, the ship set sail. It was subsequently bombed five times.

“They tried to sink us in mid-harbor, and that would have blocked the channel--no ships would have been able to get out,” Johnsen said.

That didn’t happen, but the blasts killed 59 of Johnsen’s shipmates. “I’m grateful I survived,” Johnsen said. “And I’m grateful for all these fellows here today.”