Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Marshall, Texas, Pearl Harbor Survivor-- Part 2

Continuing with yesterday's story by James W. Clark from December 6, 2008.

"I had one stairway to get up to the main deck. The sailors in the stairway weren't moving. I was concerned that something bad was going to happen, and shortly, someone began yelling to clear the stairway. I got up to the main deck and figured I had about 70 feet to go to be in the open.

"I started running to get out in the open, but the gangway equipment was breaking loose from the side of the ship. I had to jump up and grab a beam so it could fall under my feet.

"Then the water pushed me up under the overhead. I estimated I had between 20 to 25 feet to swim (underwater) to get in the clear. I swam and I swam. I just kept swimming until I couldn't hold my breath anymore.

"When I came up, I was in the clear, but I had black crude oil in my eyes and on my face. It's hard to wipe crude out of your eyes with saltwater.

"A liberty boat had just returned from the beach and they started picking up sailors who were in the water. I got in the boat, and I was put on the beach.

"There was a big ditch there and they told us to get in it. I did, but I realized that, if an enemy plane saw all those sailors, it would be easy strafing. There was a bathhouse close by/-near the channel which came into Pearl Harbor/ and we got in it."

No comments: