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.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Three of Nebraska's Last Living Pearl Harbor Survivors Gather-- Part 2

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

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