Pearl Harbor survivor reflects on infamous day

As the nation remembers the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, a Columbus resident finds himself as the only local survivor from that day of infamy.

Dixie Harris, 92, said it's ironic that the 73rd anniversary of the Japanese attack falls on a Sunday, the same day a surprise attack killed 2,403 Americans, including 68 civilians and left 1,178 wounded.

"The harbor was a sea of smoke and fire," Harris said during an interview at his Columbus home. "I was seeing the skin coming off people and how many died from their injuries, the constant bombing and the constant noise."

As the only survivor still alive from the Columbus area, Harris is one of 17 remaining Pearl Harbor survivors in Georgia. At least 17 military personnel from the state died in the attack.

"It is saddening for you to lose your shipmates and comrades," Harris said.

A day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan. Three days later on Dec. 11, 1941, Germany and Italy allied with Japan, a move that propelled the United States into World War II.

With a force of 353 aircraft launched from carriers, the Japanese attacked the island of Oahu in two waves, with the first group of 183 planes striking Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. Much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was bombed, strafed and torpedoed while anchored in the bay.

Most sailors were still asleep in their bunks, taking advantage of a quiet Sunday morning. Fifty minutes after the first attack, a second wave intensified the destruction with another 170 planes.

Harris, a Navy seaman assigned to a submarine, still remembers when he stepped from his barracks and gazed at a Zero fighter aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy. There was a "Rising Sun" insignia visible on its fuselage. A half block from the water front, he could only shake in his boots.

"A Zero came near me and I said, 'I don't have nowhere to go,'" Harris said. "He had his canopy back and he had a gold tooth in his mouth. I figured his gunner is going to kill me but he banked left and went back over the harbor."

A moment later, Harris said the same aircraft exploded over the harbor. An anti-aircraft gun apparently struck the torpedo beneath the aircraft. "It must have hit the torpedo," he said. "It tore it to smithereens."

Later that morning, another Zero crashed near the Naval hospital with pieces hitting a pen full of rabbits.

"Rabbits were running all over the place," Harris said.

The attack was over in one hour and 15 minutes, with the fighter planes returning out to the sea. Heavy smoke, flames and destruction filled the harbor. The attackers sunk or heavily damaged eight battleships, along with cruisers and destroyers. More than 325 planes were damaged or destroyed while lined wing to wing on surrounding airfields.

Harris still has visions of the burned bodies and stench of burned flesh.

"It was a day to remember," he said. "Like I told somebody, if you weren't scared, you weren't there."

During the attack, the battleship USS Arizona took a direct hit from an armor-piercing bomb. In nine minutes, it went down with 1,177 sailors and Marines. As a memorial to all who died during the attack, the United States flag flies over the sunken battleship with its crew onboard.

Losses for the Japanese were small compared to the United States. They lost 29 aircraft and five small submarines, and 129 soldiers were killed. The attack on Pearl Harbor failed to destroy three U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet because they were out to sea on maneuvers. Six months later, the United States dealt a decisive blow to the Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway.

Harris, who retired from the Navy in 1962, said he's thankful to be a Pearl Harbor survivor. He will spend this morning at Wynnbrook Baptist Church.

"It's such a blessing through God's grace," he said. "It's nothing I could do. He did it all. He protected me, brought me through 22 years of Naval service then brought me up to this day."

When he gets a chance, Harris still speaks to children at churches and schools about Pearl Harbor and the need to keep America alert.

"We had that big 9/11 come on just like Pearl Harbor and nobody paid any attention," he said. "Unless people look out for this country, it's going to be taken over either from without or within. I tell you it could very easily be taken over from within because I don't think they care."

Thomas Dolan, a political science professor at Columbus State University and a retired Navy lieutenant commander, said U.S. forces aren't as concentrated today as they were in 1941.

"It was a dedicated attack for really a short term goal of keeping the U.S. suppressed while Japan began its marauder invasion of Singapore toward India and Burma," he said.

Almost 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks on America. They were organized but didn't have aircraft carriers. The men had to hijack civilian airplanes.

"In the case of terrorists, those are meant to grab headlines," he said. "The way terrorism works is it gets people's attention."

Harris said more needs to be done to educate the younger generation about history.

"We need to take care of this country," he said. "There is so much that is not being taken care of.

This story was originally published December 6, 2014 at 11:26 PM with the headline "Pearl Harbor survivor reflects on infamous day."