The ceremony marked the 60th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into World War II. Japanese planes bombed, torpedoed and strafed ships, airfields, airplanes and barracks with devastating effect on that Sunday morning, killing more than 2,400 Americans and sinking or damaging 21 Navy ships.

Ten Pearl Harbor survivors attended Friday's ceremony at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2266.

Post Chaplain Vernon Bandy said their comrades killed at Pearl Harbor did not die in vain that Dec. 7.

"Because of their devotion to duty, we still enjoy the freedoms passed down from our forefathers," he said.

`A day for growing up'

Eugene Richardson was 17 years old at Pearl Harbor, a brand-new Marine, when war arrived. A native of Springfield, Mo., he had joined the service for adventure and a steady paycheck. After the bombs fell, he was sent to direct traffic and told to keep the roads clear so rescue workers could begin looking for and treating the wounded.

The scene was total chaos, Richardson recalled. There were hundreds of hurt and dying men, some of whom were evacuated to hospitals in taxicabs.

"It was one of the worst days in American history," said Richardson, 77, who now lives in Hemet. "I saw more than I wanted to see. It was a day for growing up."

Joe Cenkar, 80, was a fireman first class aboard the battleship USS Nevada. He earned $54 a month in December 1941.

During the attack, the Nevada tried to steam out of port but was pounded by 16 bombs and a torpedo. The lights went out aboard ship, and Cenkar, who was below decks, found himself in waist-deep water. If the Nevada had sunk in the middle of the main channel, she might have bottled up the harbor for months. Her captain was ordered to run her aground.

Cenkar said the Nevada's crew fought valiantly to save her, battling raging fires well into the night. Fifty of his shipmates died at Pearl Harbor.

"We went down fighting," said Cenkar, who lives in Highland. "Every kind of shell we could fire, we fired."

A grim task

Bill Alexander, 80, of Sun City, was assigned to a "liberty boat," a small craft that ferried sailors off battleships, cruisers and destroyers to recreational activities in Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. His wooden boat was strafed by Japanese machine guns, but none found the mark.

Alexander recalled a terrifying and frustrating day.

He said he tried to get a rifle from an armory, but the guard at the door wouldn't give him one. He didn't have the proper authorization to receive a gun that morning.

"I would have been more effective firing rubber bands at the Japanese," he said.

Alexander said he did manage to rescue a couple of men from the water after they were blown off their ships. Later, he pulled oil-soaked timbers off various damaged ships from the water, where they posed a threat to seaplanes landing and taking off. Come nightfall, he dined on hardtack and strawberry jam and was glad to get it.

"I was alive," he said. "That was something to celebrate."

Robert Pierce, 82, of Riverside, found himself with a particularly gruesome task. Hours after the attack, Pierce went to the Naval Hospital, where he was assigned to help identify the dead. Four hundred bodies were lying on the lawn outside the morgue, he said.

"I didn't sleep at all that night," Pierce said.

Other Pearl Harbor survivors who attended Friday's ceremony included George Lindeboom, 79, of San Jacinto; Ben Wheat, 79, of Val Vista; and Hemet residents Burgess "Bud" Cantrell, 82, Howard Carey Jr., 80, Harry German, 82, and Andy Goetz, 85.

Reach Joe Vargo at (909) 587-3130 or jvargo@pe.com