One of the Last Pearl Harbor Survivors, Richard Higgins Dies at 102-- Part 1

From March 21, 2024, CBS News.

Richard C. "Dick" Higgins, 102, died in Bend, Oregon, on Tuesday, March 19, of natural causes.

He was a radioman assigned to a patrol squadron of seaplanes based in Hawaii when the attack came.  Higgins recounted that day in an oral history taken in 2008.  He had been in his bunk in the screened in  lanai on the third floor of his barracks when the bombing began.

I jumped out of my bunk and I ran over to the edge of the lanai and just as I got there, a plane went right over the barracks.  He figured the plane was about 50 feet over and 100 feet above his barracks.  He then described "the big red meatballs" on the plane (which were the Japanese symbol).

"So, there was no doubt what was happening in my mind, because of the things that had been going on."

--GreGen