Augustan Shivers' Pearl Harbor Story

From the December 6, 1941, Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle "Editorial:  How could Pearl Harbor be forgotten?"

Augustan Quentin Shivers was having his 21st birthday December 7, 1941.  he had just sat down in the officers' quarters to write a letter when the young Marine heard "a couple rumbles" which drew him to a window where he looked out across the harbor

He could see his vessel, the USS Pennsylvania on the far side.

"And the first thing I saw was an airplane way up on high just on fire-- just spiraling down on fire, just like you see in a  movie."

Unable to leave his post to get a rifle, sitting racked in his quarters, he said, "I just watched the Arizona blow up and watched everything go to hell."

Shivers died at age 96 in 2016, the year that it was estimated that there were still 2,000 to 2,500 Pearl Harbor survivors still alive.  That number dwindles every year and soon will dwindle to zero.