"Be Prepared": A Clinton, Iowa, Pearl Harbor Survivor Remembers

From the November 10, 2017, Clinton (Iowa) Herald by Jacqueline Covey.

Daniel J. Kramer, 101, a resident of Prairie Hills Center was on the USS California that day at Pearl Harbor.

"Sunday in the Navy, back in those days, was called Holiday Routine.  You took it easy at liberty, other than the fellas that had duty.  This was before women were allowed on ships," he remembered.

"So, I had duty that day when general quarters sounded -- that means to man your battle station.  I thought it was some kind of nutty drill that the Air Force was flying in some planes from the States."

It was an 80 degree day and beautiful.

He grew up in Dubuque, Iowa, in the 1920s and 1930s and had turned 21 in 1940 when he enlisted.  Just months before the attack, he had married Mary Jane and honeymooned in California.  She was supposed to meet him in Hawaii, but that didn't happen after the attack.

Afterwards, he was sent to the West Coast and then reassigned to a base in key West where he trained pilots in catapult and recovery.

--GreGen