More wires
Sports
Business
Technology
Washington
Nation
World

Lottery #s
Daily: [an error occurred while processing this directive]
Mass Cash: [an error occurred while processing this directive]
Mass Millions: [an error occurred while processing this directive]
Megabucks: [an error occurred while processing this directive]

ROCHESTER, N.H. - On Dec. 7, 1941, former Marine Kennety Johnston was in his barracks when 353 Japanese bombers attacked Oahu's Pearl Harbor. He and his fellow Marines thought the explosions they heard were related to construction at the base.

Louis Nokini, center, of Hyde Park, and a veteran of World War II was on hand for the Annual Pearl Harbor Day Services at Fanuel Hall on Sunday. (Thomas James Hurst Photo) WWII hopes Dec. 7 is day that will live in memory A schoolboy's world altered by Pearl Harbor attack New Hampshire residents remember Pearl Harbor on anniversary Photo Gallery

"It didn't even phase us at first,'' he said.

But within minutes, they were on the roof with machines guns and rifles, blasting away at the enemy aircraft overhead. They were credited with downing two of them.

"We laid on the roof and just fired at them, belly up. At the time, you don't think about the danger,'' said Johnston, who was 20. "When I think of it now, it wasn't too smart.''

The attack that drew the United States into the war happened at about 7:50 a.m. that Sunday, 57 years ago Monday. It resulted in 2,403 dead servicemen and -women, 21 sunken U.S. ships and 185 downed planes. It was a dire blow to the country`s ego and sense of security.

"We figured we're not going to win this war if they can do damage like that in one day,'' he said, looking at the World War II memorabilia in his Rochester home recently.

Now 77 and retired, Johnston remembers American forces being so surprised with the attack 57 years ago that they had to break into storage rooms to grab weapons. Anti-aircraft guns that had been set up for a training drill weeks earlier had been removed.

The assault so rattled the Americans that when two of their own aircraft returned later that night from reconnoitering the area, they were shot down by their own forces.

"They opened up on those poor guys and ...,'' Johnston said. "Everybody was jittery.''

After the fighting was over, Johnston helped remove bodies of servicemen killed aboard the USS Arizona.

Sally Wholley, then a 29-year-old Army nurse, arrived at the harbor the day after the attack.

"It was a nightmare, day and night,'' said Wholley, 86, a resident at the Rockingham County Nursing Home in Brentwood. "I never want to see anything like that again.''

Wholley was aboard a ship heading to the Philippines that was attacked by a Japanese submarine.

"All hell broke loose, and people were running and bells were ringing,'' she said. "The boys were called to battle stations, which meant trouble. We sat there for 45 minutes and then, all of a sudden, there was a big bang and the whole ship shook. We thought that was it.''

Aircraft dropped depth charges on the Japanese submarine, which was hit and destroyed.

After the attack, the ship headed for Pearl Harbor, where the nurses got to work.

The dreams of war have mostly dissipated, she said. But sometimes they come back, such as when she woke up this summer during a fireworks display at a field near the nursing home.

"I thought for sure I was back in the war,'' she said. "It really doesn't leave your mind, I guess.''