From the South Dakota Argus-Leader.
Darrel Christopherson, who died Jan. 29th at age 87, dropped out of 11th grade and enlisted in the USS Navy on his 17th birthday, Feb. 12, 1941.
In an interview, he said, "All hell broke loose" when the Japanese attack came. Seven sailors on his ship, the USS Vestal, lost their lives in the attack. He and others used fire axes to cut the lines between the Vestal and the Arizona and then spent the rest of the attack run aground on a mud flat in the harbor.
"Mostly the only thing we seen once we got away from alongside was just smoke and explosions."
He had considered his Pearl Harbor posting as a sweet assignment for a boy from South Dakota before the attack.
He had just returned home from a trip out to Pearl harbor and the Arizona Memorial on Jan. 17th. Family members said it was on his bucket list.
Greatest Generation. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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