HONOLULU — Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Don Long was alone on an anchored military seaplane in the middle of a bay across the island from Pearl Harbor when Japanese warplanes started striking Hawaii on December 7, 1941, watching from afar as the attack that killed and wounded thousands unfolded.
The Japanese planes reached his base on Kaneohe Bay soon after Pearl Harbor was hit, and the young sailor saw buildings and planes explode around him.
When the gunfire finally reached him, setting the aircraft ablaze, he jumped into the water and swam through the flames to safety.
Now 97, Long marked the 77th anniversary from his home in Napa, Calif., on Friday.
He shared some of his memories with The Associated Press:
Many anniversaries
Long was fresh out of boot camp when he arrived in Hawaii in 1941.
“I got off that ship with my sea bag over my shoulder and we threw it on a truck and they carted me over to Kaneohe from Pearl Harbor where we had landed,” Long recalled.
It was a different experience when he was flown to Hawaii for the 75th anniversary in 2016.
“We came in on a first class United chartered jet, all the girls with the leis were there with the Hawaiian music,” he remembered. “We ended up not in a bunk in the barracks, but in a very nice ocean room.”
Long no longer harbors ill will against Japan or its people.
“I don’t know when that feeling left me. But as you are probably well aware, we were taught to hate those people with all our hearts, and when you’re looking at one down a gun sight, you can’t really feel much love for anyone — that’s for darn sure,” he said. “That has long since changed.”
Long has not always marked the anniversary like he does now.
“For about 50, 60 years or so, it was a day that rang a little bell to me, but I did not do much,” he said. “In the past 20 or so (years), I take part in some kind of activity that I’ll say is appropriate for the day.”
On Friday morning at about the time of the attack, Long spoke with the AP at his home as he prepared for the day: “I recall the day very, very distinctly,” he said, remembering “the day that started the war for our country that caused so, so much havoc. And I do recall the friends who never came back with, oh, much sadness.”
He keeps about a half dozen medals, including his Purple Heart. Long remembers that weekend of the attack as routine, “or so it started out,” he wrote in a 1992 essay that he provided to The Associated Press.
The 20-year-old from Minnesota enrolled in boot camp in March 1941. That Sunday morning was his first day of operational duty with the squadron he had been assigned to about a month earlier.
“I recall it was a beautiful sunny day in Hawaii that morning,” Long said.
He began preparing for a solitary day of signal drills and regular maintenance checks.
A few minutes later, he heard the roar of airplanes overhead. In the distance, Long saw planes flying over hangars and buildings exploding. Another plane that was anchored nearby was hit and burst into flames.
Seconds later, a Japanese plane made a run toward his position. “The sequence of events during the next few minutes is not entirely clear,” he recalled.
Long jumped from the pilot’s seat, looking for a life jacket, but bullets were producing fountains of seawater inside the cabin. The fuel tanks in the wings were hit.
Gasoline was ablaze on the water, so he jumped into the bay and swam beneath the fire to get away from the sinking plane.
Still far from shore, Long found a wooden channel marker and swam to it, ducking beneath the waves to hide every time a Japanese plane made a pass.
Once the Japanese were gone, Long flagged a boat searching for survivors.
Long burned his head, face and arms making his escape, but he considered himself in good health compared to the wounded and dead around him
