Pearl
Harbor was next on the series of major events to happen during the tragic World
War II. This was a very deafening experience to all involved, and the whole
country of America. Many people learn about this event through the eyes of
someone who was not associated with the actual event whatsoever. On December 7,
2014 the editors of People Magazine
came in contact with one of the last survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack. This
gave me a different outlook on the situation and how much it did affect the
lives of everyone involved.
Their
confrontation with Stratton was about a week after he had gathered at a Naval
station near Honolulu to reunite with his fellow surviving comrades to remember
and pay tribute to the more than 2,500 soldiers and friends that they lost that
day. He begins by telling them the story of his life that day. He had just left
the “chow hall” located on the Arizona when he heard a commotion and looked
over to see sailors yelling, pointing, and panicking about the group of planes
flying very low and coming towards them.
“I
watched one of them bank and saw the rising sun symbol under the wings and
thought, ‘Boy, that’s the Japanese, and they’re bombing us,’” he says.
In
reaction to this terrifying sight, the 19-year-old boy climbed 60 feet of
ladders where he joined with other sailors in controlling a five-inch, 25-
caliber aircraft gun against the Japanese planes coming in fast.
“We
were just firing away at all those planes. They were coming in so close I could
see the pilots when they went by. Some were waving and some were grinning,”
Stratton states.
He
recalls looking around the harbor and seeing nothing but black smoke covering
the skies, and Japanese aircraft circling around over their heads. Suddenly, the
ship started to rock with an expected bomb that lifted the ship of 32,000 tons
six feet out of the water.
Stratton
explains his thoughts in this moment, “A 600- foot fireball just engulfed us,
burning all of us real bad. After that it was all about self-preservation,
buddy. We weren’t thinking about anything but getting the hell out of there.”
From
that point on, they were just worried about keeping them alive, and away to
where they could receive immediate help. One of his fellow crewmates threw threw
a rope between two vessels which allowed them to muscle their way across 100
feet of rope over the fuel-covered water that was right under them. “My hands
were burned so badly I don’t have any fingerprints,” Stratton explained, “so it
was pretty painful.”
By
the end of that day he had lost a big chunk of his crew mates, and he was about
to start his 10 months of treatment in many different military hospitals. He
was recovering from burns that covered almost 70 percent of his body.
However,
after being recovered from this traumatic experience, Stratton didn’t feel like
he had done enough to serve his country, bringing him to the decision to go
back to the recruiting office stating that he wanted to be put back into war.
Not long after that, he got stationed as a gunner’s mate on the destroyer USS
Stack that participated in the invasions of New Guinea, Philippines, and Okinawa.
Stratton is truly a hero and a great example of the courage, strength, and
confidence shown all throughout World War II.
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