Pearl Harbor remembered by man who was nearby
When he was reminded that the 81st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor was this week, George Pann took a few moments to reflect on his memory of the event.
Pann, now 100 years old and living at Magnolia Place of Saxonburg, was at Fort Ruger in Hawaii for his Army service at the time. After hearing the sirens, the rest of the day was a blur, but he has some specific memories of the actions of the military personnel.
“When we heard the alert, we went down to our section of the beach and converged,” Pann said. “We put our guns down and had to bury the back end of the guns in the sand to prepare for the recoil.”
While he was only exiting his teen years at the time, as were many people in his unit at Diamond Head, Pann said he remembers the bravery displayed by himself and others present on the base. He said the members of the unit were prepared for an airstrike on Fort Ruger, which never ended up happening.
“I was scared the first couple of days, then we got to go and try to do things that were immediate to stop the enemy,” Pann said. “It was scary at times, but eventually we pulled out of it and started preparing for a big war.”
Pann and his unit would stay in Hawaii until 1943, when they were transferred to take part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, a series of battles fought from November 1943 through February 1944.
Pann joined the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association and returned to Hawaii in 1980, where the association met every five years.
But time and ill health winnowed the association's ranks so much that, in 2012, the group disbanded.
Every December, Pann is reminded of the events of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which he views as a reminder of the resilience of the responding military personnel.
“We pulled together and did the best we could,” Pann said. “I reflect on it once in a while, but I never gave up.”
