BARNSTABLE, MASS. (WHDH) - Freeman Johnson is reflecting on his military service on Memorial Day. The 106-year-old from Centerville was serving in the United States Navy on December 7, 1941.
Johnson is the eldest of just a handful of survivors from the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor Military base in Hawaii that drew the United States into World War II.
“I don’t know, it’s simply becoming a rarity, you know. There aren’t many left. Before, there were thousands. So, it really didn’t matter, but now, because there’s only 10 of us left, it’s a big deal.”
Johnson was one of roughly 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu during the Japanese aerial and seaborne raid.
The attack was designed to cripple the U.S. Military’s ability to interfere with Japan’s invasions of other Asian territories.
Johnson spent most of his time deep below the deck of the U.S.S. Saint Louis. He was hard at work when the Japanese forces attacked.
“I didn’t see anything, nothing. I was inside a boiler, a steam drum, which is about this big. You’re in a tube. I didn’t see anything,” Johnson said. “We’ve been to a couple of schools, and the kids ask: ‘Were you scared?’ You’re not scared. You’re too busy to be scared. Besides, you don’t know what you’re scared of. You can’t see anything. What are you afraid of?”
While Johnson vividly remembers Pearl Harbor and his time serving in the military, he said that when looking back, it was the life waiting for him back home that mattered most.
“The most important thing to me was getting married, having kids,” Johnson said. “Pearl Harbor just happened.”
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