Pearl Harbor survivor, veterans honored

The motto for members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors' Association is "Keep America Alert," but over time complacency still has a way of settling in, said Jack Moore, 87, of Sebring, a Pearl Harbor survivor honored Monday by the VFW Post 4300.

Post 4300 held a flag-raising ceremony in honor of the survivors as well as the fallen. After a brief prayer, the flag was raised to half staff. An honor guard gave a 21-gun salute followed by "Taps."

"It was all I could do to hold back ...," said Moore, referring to his eyes welling up during the remembrance ceremony.

With the ranks of the Pearl Harbor Survivor's Association thinning at an alarming rate, and memories fading, it's more important than ever for their stories to be told and retold.

It doesn't look like the members' sons or grandsons will carry on, he said.

That morning

It was the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. Moore was a gunnery mate aboard the USS Sacramento, anchored at Pearl Harbor. Making gunnery mate was one of his proudest moments.

"I was two decks below reading my Sunday newspaper," said Moore. "Looking through the porthole I could see all the battleships in 'Battleship Row.' They were preparing for church services when at about five minutes to eight general quarters sounded."

When he reached topside Moore quickly realized this was no drill.

He spotted Japanese torpedo planes with round red insignias on their fuselages releasing their torpedoes and seconds later there were violent explosions along Battleship Row.

He raced to his battle station: a .50-caliber machine gun. His job was to pump water to the water-cooled weapon, but since he was the first man there, his thought was to prepare the weapon for firing, he said.

To his astonishment, the ammunition lockers were locked. And equally unexplainable, someone left a hammer on the deck, which just wasn't done. He grabbed that hammer of providence, knocked the locks off the lockers, loaded the gun magazine and began firing.

He could see the Japanese airplanes diving, spitting bullets toward his gun station.

"At that moment in time, I thought I would not see the sunset that day," he said. "There was a high hammerhead crane on the dock. The attacking aircraft-fire ricocheted off that crane, which saved our ship and our lives."

The magazine on his gun jammed. In a surreal moment, while a gunner's mate made repairs, he looked out over the harbor. He saw the Arizona sinking. The Oklahoma capsized and completely rolled over.

"The harbor was on fire with burning oil," he said. "People were trying to swim under it and over it. He saw the USS Nevada attempting to sail out of the harbor when the attacking aircraft concentrated their fire on that battleship."

One aircraft got so close he could see the pilot thumbing his nose at them, and made an indecent gesture, but not before they got some shots off at him. Moore thinks they hit him, but not where it counted.

"He dropped his bomb on the bow of the battleship," he said. "The captain of the Nevada beached it, so he didn't block the harbor."

The fighting went on for about an hour. Then the second wave of attackers came; this time with high-level bombers.

"There was no protection whatsoever," he said, adding that at high altitude their .50-caliber machine gun was useless.

"With each bomb you could swear they were going to be direct hits, but the bombs fell harmlessly into the harbor. We escaped without injuries."

Once the attack ended there were rumors that the Japanese were going to invade, so each man was issued a rifle and ammunition. They were preparing to leave for the beaches when the rumors were proven false.

After a week or so he was sent to Oahu for some rest and relaxation.

"There wasn't much relaxation," he said. "We were all pretty well demoralized. It was hard to think of anything except the defeat we had suffered and the loss of so many lives. You'd wonder how a fleet that size could travel 3,500 miles undetected.

"Occasionally I get all shook up. It's not a recollection of the attack per se, but it's got to be related to that."

Joining the Navy

Moore said he and about 10 of his friends went to Indianapolis and joined the Navy on a dare.

"Only two of us passed the physical," he laughed.

His dad was all for it, but his mom was dead-set against it.

He had joined the Naval Reserve while in high school. He was 17 years old.

"I wanted to go to the Naval Academy," he said.

From high school he attended Butler University in Indianapolis.

"In November of 1940, the Secretary of the Navy ... called out the Naval Reserves," he said. "That ended my university career."

He went to Boston, Mass., to the naval yard there.

"They retrofitted the Sacramento with new guns, a new galley, new engines, almost everything," he said. "We proceeded from Boston to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, resupplied and headed through the Panama Canal to San Diego."

They remained in San Diego, Calif., a couple of weeks and then sailed to Pearl Harbor. They arrived at Pearl Harbor on Aug. 15, 1941.

Communications in those days pretty much relied on Western Union.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor his parents were frantic, not knowing if he was dead or alive.

"It took about a week or two before I could get word to them that I was OK," he said.

He remained with the USS Sacramento for his Navy career, which lasted just 20 days short of five years. He was one of 10 "plank owners," (sailors) originally assigned to the ship that stayed with the ship.

The Sacramento remained in World War II serving as a torpedo-boat tender.

"We ran into some Japanese subs but did not get into any major engagements," he said.

Hollywood has made several major movies about the attack on Pearl Harbor, including "Tora Tora Tora" in 1970 and "Pearl Harbor" in 2001.

Moore felt "Tora Tora Tora" was the more realistic depiction.

"In 'Pearl Harbor' some of that was computerized," said Moore. "You could tell the way they flew into Battleship Row it was phony. And I never saw women like that. I never saw any nurses that good looking either. When I saw that movie and I saw that actress (Kate Beckinsale as Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson) I said the heck with the war."

After the war Moore returned to Indianapolis where he finished college and met his wife of 59 years, Clara, while they were out with friends at a place called the Canary Cottage.

"My friend and I saw these gals," said Moore. "We struck up a conversation and that was it."

After the Navy, Moore said he worked for the Department of Defense.

The couple has three sons, one is a dentist, one works in pharmaceutical sales and the third is an electrical engineer. They have four grandchildren.

"I'll have some great-grandchildren if a live a few more years," he said.

He said what has impressed him the most over the years is the resilience of the United States.

"No matter what happens we come out of it: hurricanes, economic times," he said. "I don't think there are too many countries where they can accomplish what we've done in the short amount of time."