This article was originally published in the Butler Eagle on Dec. 7, 2021.

SAXONBURG — On Dec. 7, 1941, 19-year-old George Pann waited on a Hawaiian beach for a Japanese invasion force in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese land forces never arrived, but Pann later took part in invasions of Japanese-held territories across the South Pacific during the course of World War II.

Today, Pann lives in Saxonburg. But on Dec. 7, 1941, he was in the Army and stationed with a coastal artillery unit at Fort Ruger on the volcanic mountain of Diamond Head on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

Diamond Head was a long way away from Glassmere in East Deer Township, Allegheny County, where Pann grew up with four brothers and three sisters. He joined the Army when he was 18 years old in 1940.

He was sent to Hawaii for training as a gunner on a 155 mm self-propelled artillery vehicle. He was at Fort Ruger, 15 miles from Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese Zeros began their attack.

“It was Sunday morning, around 8 a.m. I was having breakfast at Fort Ruger,” said Pann, “when we had an alert.”

Pann said what he remembers most about the morning was chaos.

“You could see the smoke and explosions from Pearl Harbor,” he said.

“People were running around, opening the ammunition depot,” he said. “The sergeant didn’t want to open the door. They blew the lock off.”

The Japanese did not attack Fort Ruger in their initial attack, Pann said.

“When they returned to their carriers, they passed overhead while we were working on our guns on the beach,” he said. “They would strafe us. We had one killed and two wounded.”

Pann and the remainder of his battery were ordered to take their guns and dig in on the beach anticipating a follow-up invasion after the air attack.

“The lieutenant told us to wait until you see the boats coming in and then start firing,” he said.

“I was scared, yes, we were waiting for an invasion, but it never came,” Pann said.

After days and nights manning the 155 mms on the beach, the unit was sent back to the fort.

“In the days after, things started to settle down. We got to know what was going on. The governor declared martial law,” Pann said.

Pann said he and his fellow soldiers learned the toll of the attack: more than 2,400 Americans killed and nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and more than 300 airplanes damaged or destroyed.

Pann’s unit stayed in Hawaii until 1943, when it was transferred to take part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, a series of battles fought from November 1943 through February 1944.

Even today, Pann expressed dismay about what happened to his 155 mm.

“They were good guns. They were the biggest guns in the Army,” he said.

His battery was utilized by the Marines for the Gilbert Island invasion.

“Our guns were turned over to the Marines. They were brand new guns,” said Pann. “The engineers said they were unworkable, they were unfit for duty when we got them back from the Marines.”

Issued new 155 mms, Pann and his batterymates manned the guns themselves in subsequent actions in the campaign.

Eventually, Pann took part in the invasion of Okinawa, which Pann called the biggest battle in the Pacific.

Casualties in the Okinawan fighting included 149,193 Okinawan civilians, 77,166 Japanese soldiers and 14,009 American soldiers.

Pann was a corporal by then and had been to “gun pointers” school, where he learned to aim the 155 mm.

“It took two guys to carry the shell up to the gun, one man carried the powder,” he said. “I aimed the guns. I got information from the plotting room, got the azimuth and the distance and would tell the crew to fire.”

“They didn’t want to surrender. We had to use the firepower,” said Pann. “There was not much the enemy could do. We had control of the air. Navy ships fired on the land.”

After Okinawa, Pann said he was sent to New Caledonia to muster for a planned invasion of Japan.

“We started lining up divisions. Gen. (Douglas) MacArthur was going to be the lead general,” said Pann.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed plans.

Pann said he was sent to Hawaii for leave when the invasion was called off.

When he got out of the Army, Pann returned home, where he got a job at the Creighton PPG glassworks, a position he held for the next 38 years.

Two years ago, he came to live in Magnolia Place, a personal care home with 43 residents.

Amie Feeney, director of quality assurance at Magnolia Place, said, “I’ve worked here the last year and a half with George. He's 99, but he’s easy to get along with.

“He’s really a very nice gentleman who gets along great with everyone,” she said.

“He was able to get up and walk until he broke his hip a year ago,” said Feeney. Now, Pann moves about in a wheelchair.

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.