A year ago, Harry L. Chandler was in Hawaii, a place where 82 years earlier he had seen the ravages of war unfold before his eyes.
This time he was hailed by the 21st century United States Navy as a returning hero, honored for his service to the nation and celebrated in both solemn and celebratory events.
Through all the intervening decades, Chandler has carried with him still vivid memories of that December morning in 1941 when he was just 20 years old.
Remember the swarm of fighter jets Pearl Harbor as he raised the American flag at Navy Mobile Hospital 2 on a hill overlooking Battleship Row.
He remembers being hit with another body from the hospital on board trucks bound for the port.
He remembers finding the carnage of men floating in the burning oil and then struggling to pull survivors from the sea.
In this May photo, World War II veteran Harry Chandler salutes at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., during a visit with the Southeast Florida Honor Flight.Chandler family photo
Only once before has Chandler, now 103, returned to the place where World War II began for America, but last year’s visit may have brought him the peace he needed. Photos from his trip document the thoughtful moments he spent at the USS Arizona Memorial and the poignant placing of flower petals in the harbor waters in tribute to the lost sailors.
“I went to the Arizona (memorial) and I was like, ‘Yo, I’m back at war,'” Chandler recalled this week. “It was fascinating to think, it’s been so many years that I was in the same place, thinking the same things . . . We really got out of this one. It was scary, but the fear was just gone and you had to do the job you were sent there to do.”
Meeting teenage ROTC cadets reassured him that the Navy is in good hands for the future, Chandler said. “It was very nice. They were really happy to meet me,” he said. “It was like I was somebody special, but I wasn’t, if you know what I mean.”
Chandler said he finds it hard to believe it’s been 83 years. “It seems that it is not possible. I’m not old enough,” he said, followed by a laugh. “You think about what happened and you say, ‘How lucky was I?’ …That’s how I feel. I thank the Lord for seeing me through all of this and getting me through.”
The December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor left an indelible mark on the lives of those who lived through it and spurred a generation of Americans to unite as World War II unfolded. For decades, the words “Remember Pearl Harbor. Keep America alert” were not to be forgotten.
For just two hours and 20 minutes that morning, Japanese air and water invaders dealt a fatal blow to the American Pacific Fleet. Twelve ships, including three battleships, were sunk or beached; nine more were damaged. The attack killed nearly 2,500 Americans and wounded 1,200 more. The loss of the mighty battleship USS Arizona, which is now the site of a US Park Service memorial, resulted in the loss of 1,177 lives.
The battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it falls into the sea during a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. In a speech to a joint session of Congress a day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt he said on December 7, 1941, it was “a date that will live in infamy”. The attack brought the US into World War II. (Associated Press)AP
Within hours, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was before a joint session of Congress, proclaiming December 7 a “date that will live in infamy,” begging for, and then receiving, a declaration of war. Over the next four years, the war raged on two fronts in the Pacific and Europe, claiming the lives of more than 400,000 Americans.
For Chandler, who dropped out of Holyoke High School early to enlist in the Navy in 1939, the lesson of that era is less about the toll of war and more about how the nation came together , united in one cause.
“I think the most important thing is to remember those who should never be forgotten because that’s what made most of the men in the Pearl Harbor days do what we did, act the way we were supposed to act.” he said “(The attack) just brought us power. It was almost a miracle … to think that everybody in the country would agree that, hey, this had to be, and they’re going to take care of it. There’s no doubt”.
“Let’s put it this way,” Chandler added, explaining that the “whys” of the Pearl Harbor attack have crossed his mind regularly. “That’s what kept going through (my) head. Why did all of this have to happen? But it did, and we’re lucky that it did. When you think about it, everybody he stepped up and did what he had to do. They realized how close they were to being annihilated. Something like that turns your head. . . . (and) it all ended up being a good one thing”.
Harry L. Chandler, a native of Holyoke, was serving as a member of the hospital corpsman with the Navy at Pearl Harbor at the time of the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941. (CHANDLER FAMILY PHOTO)The Republican
Chandler acknowledges that he is among a dwindling number of World War II veterans, let alone those who survived Pearl Harbor. Among the reasons, he said, he wanted to participate in the national commemoration and see the harbor for what will likely be the last time.
A decade ago, there were thought to be between 2,000 and 2,500 Pearl Harbor survivors alive in the United States. Today, the estimate is less than two dozen. Two were scheduled to participate in this year’s national commemoration. Chandler declined an invitation to return, as the rigors of the trip would have been too difficult, according to his grandson Ron Mahaffee.
For Mahaffee, last year’s trip to Pearl Harbor with Chandler was just as exciting. “I certainly have lifelong, life-changing memories of being on that journey with him. … To me, getting this warrior back and reliving with him what he experienced in his service was priceless.
During Chandler’s visit to Pearl Harbor, his memories of the attack were captured by Pacific Historic Parks as part of an oral history project. His story and that of others, as well as national commemoration ceremonies can be viewed online at pacifichistoricparks.org.
Cynthia G. Simison is retired executive editor emeritus of The Republican. She can be reached by email at csimison@repub.com.