Lawrence Osterbuhr, 96, was in the Coast Guard during the attack on the Coast Guard Cutter Kukui, a buoy tender anchored in Honolulu Harbor. He was sunning himself when he saw smoke from Pearl Harbor, about six miles away and then he heard air raid sirens.
He began loading .30 caliber machine guns. A high level Japanese bomber flew overhead and a bomb fell nearby.
"We could hear the sound of a bomb dropping before it hit."
The Kukui left the harbor before noon and worked all night putting out buoy lights around Maui and Molaka because of the enforced blackout. Afterwards, he spent two more years in Honolulu before transferring to St. Louis.
--GreGen
My Cooter's History Blog has become about 80% World War II anyway, so I figured to start a blog specific to it, especially since we're commemorating its 70th anniversary and we are quickly losing this "Greatest Generation." The quote is taken from Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Curre, who was on the USS Tennessee that day. He died Dec. 7, 2011, seventy years to the day. His photo is below at right.
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