50 Years, and Tears Still Fall : Pearl Harbor Survivors Awarded a Special Medal

LOS ALAMITOS —  Fifty years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, about 540 survivors gathered Wednesday in a World War II-era hangar to receive medals newly authorized by Congress.

They also gathered to recall memories of a terrifying and historic day.

For some, tears welled as the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band launched the ceremonies with the National Anthem, followed by the theme songs of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard.

An old Marine on the front row wept at the the first strains of “From the halls of Montezuma. . . .”

For others, such as Donald Ridgley, 68, of Cypress, simply talking about Dec. 7, 1941, was difficult.

“I’ve been doing OK most of today,” said Ridgley, who had been an 18-year-old Navy cook on board the battleship Pennsylvania. “Normally, I can’t talk about it, even at home, without having to wipe my eyes.”

The ceremonies at the Armed Forces Reserve Center here were a part of nationwide ceremonies honoring Pearl Harbor survivors or their next of kin, provided for by a special act of Congress. Under the law, bronze medals inscribed with “Remember Pearl Harbor” were designed to be given to the military survivors on the 50th anniversary of that attack.

The veterans receiving the medal came from all over Orange County and parts of Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

“We had survivors here who came from Burbank to Oceanside, from Santa Monica to Huntington Beach,” said Kathleen Hollingsworth, an aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach). Rohrabacher’s office coordinated the event, in conjunction with the Orange County chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Assn.

High-ranking, active-duty officers of the armed services were among the 1,000 who came to honor the Pearl Harbor survivors. The officers sat on a raised platform, an oversized American flag in the background.

The honorees, men and women now mostly in their 70s or 80s, sat on folding chairs in the hanger. Hollingsworth said that in addition to the 540 survivors, about 60 widows or other next of kin also received medals during the ceremonies.

Lt. Gen. Robert Bechel, commander of the 15th Air Force at March Air Force Base near Riverside, told the survivors that their “sacrifices and bravery will never be forgotten.”

In interviews, the veterans vividly recalled exactly what they were doing at 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941.

Neal Jones, 68, of Long Beach said: “I was in the forecastle of the battleship U.S.S. West Virginia when the first torpedo hit. I was in the head, shaving. My battle station was in turret No. 4, and I tried to make my way there, but I never got there because we got three or four more hits.”

Within five minutes, the battleship began sinking quickly, Jones recalled. He escaped by sliding across on a big rope that linked the West Virginia to the nearby Tennessee.

Delmar Lacquement, 73, of Huntington Beach was a Marine stationed at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard.

“I was sitting on my bunk, reading the comics,” he said. “When it started, I ran outside, and I saw a (Japanese) plane coming around from the Navy yard, coming low, because he had probably just dropped a fish on those ships. Then I ran to get a rifle. And, yes, I was afraid at the time. I was terrified. There was carnage all around.”

Agnes Wall Anderson, 76, of Hacienda Heights was an Army nurse stationed at Schofield Barracks. She was asleep when the Japanese planes attacked.

“I heard noises like explosions,” she said. “We all ran outside. We thought it was a practice air raid. I still thought it was a practice raid as I went to duty.” But as the dead and wounded came in, the shocking news manifested itself, she said. The nation had been plunged into war.

As Anderson stood on the hangar floor, surrounded by scores of her fellow Pearl Harbor survivors, she also recalled a sight from that day that still burns in her mind.

“That morning, as we ran outside to see what was happening, there was a beautiful double rainbow.”

Holding the newly minted medal in her hand, she said: “This medal is something I will pass down to my family.”