WEBVTT

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(somber music)

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- That morning of December the 7th,

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I was at my bunk.

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I wasn't in my bunk.

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I was at my bunk.

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I was sitting there reading
the morning newspaper.

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(somber music)

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(radio commands)

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When the General Alarm sounded, uh uh uh.

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(alarm)

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I'm hitting that ladder
about a mile-a-minute.

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Up the ladder, swing it
over to the port side,

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between turret four and five to get up

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to the after superstructure wharf side.

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I was the first one
there, had the cover off

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of one of the 50 caliber machine guns.

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The other one was like half way off.

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The torpedo plane coming
in drops a torpedo

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and heads towards Battleship Row.

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I stop what I'm doing to
follow the torpedo overhead

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from the battleship.

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And as I turned around to pull

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the cover off the rest of the way,

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another torpedo plane
drops his torpedo in there.

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I see this big red ball.

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(bomb explosion)

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So I said to myself,

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the goddamned Japanese are attacking.

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(somber music)

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I was on one Roy was on the other

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and the first round that I fire

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the bullet didn't come back,

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so I pull it back manually.

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The empty shell came out and hit on deck.

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For some reason or other
I picked the thing up

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and stuck it in my pocket
which I still have today.

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From there on out anything became close

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to what we fired at, we fired at it.

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Who knows who hit what.

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But there was one torpedo plane

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went down between us and the sub base.

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(explosion)

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That airplane is reported by more ships

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going down than any airplane
that got knocked down.

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(gunfire)

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(somber music)