Remembering the unforgettable: Pearl Harbor survivors honored in Alameda

Above, Army veteran Lawson Sakai, (left) and Navy veteran Earl “Chuck” Kohler appear in front of packed crowd, below, on the hanger deck of the U.S.S. Hornet in Alameda. Above, Army veteran Lawson Sakai, (left) and Navy veteran Earl “Chuck” Kohler appear in front of packed crowd, below, on the hanger deck of the U.S.S. Hornet in Alameda. Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Remembering the unforgettable: Pearl Harbor survivors honored in Alameda 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

A standing-room-only crowd of several hundred on the hangar deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet in Alameda paused Thursday to remember Dec. 7, 1941, a day the United States would never forget.

On that day 76 years ago, Japanese planes attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor and plunged America into war.

It was an unusual occasion on the Hornet, marked with stories by Pearl Harbor survivors, remembrances of the war from other World War II veterans, and a talk from a woman who saw the attack when she was a child.

But the most remarkable speaker was Jun Yamada, the Japanese consul general in San Francisco, who at the beginning of the event offered “profound respect and condolences on behalf of the people and government of Japan to those who lost their lives in the war.”

The attack on Pearl Harbor, he said, “was one of the most tragic and regrettable moments in the history of Japan.”

“We were once bitter enemies, but now our countries are allies,” he said.

Just before and after his remarks, Yamada offered deep bows to Pearl Harbor survivors and the other veterans who had fought his country.

“I am deeply humbled and honored to be here on Pearl Harbor day,” he said.

Yamada received brisk applause, but the rest of the day belonged to the war veterans, “people who lived and made history,” said Michael McCarron, executive director of the Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum. The ship itself is a World War II veteran, launched 74 years ago.

Anne Spanier saw history through the eyes of a child. She was an 8-year-old living with her family at Hickam Field next to Pearl Harbor and was playing in the backyard that Sunday morning when she saw a flight of unusual planes — “so close,” she said, “that I could see the faces of the pilots.”

She said she did not understand the gravity of the situation, but remembers that the man across the street was so scared that his hair stood straight on end.

“I remember that to this day,” she said.

For Earl “Chuck” Kohler, the memory was different.

“I was a 17-year-old sailor boy stationed at Ford Island, in the center of Pearl Harbor. The bull’s-eye,” he said.

He was writing a letter to his mother when he first saw the strange planes, diving straight down. At first, he said he thought they were Americans, showing off. “They’ll be in big trouble for that, I thought.”

But it became clear they were bombing and strafing, and then the most remarkable thing happened: The officer of the day, a lieutenant, ordered the sailors to jump into a ditch.

“I wanted to get up, get some guns and ammo and shoot those blankety-blanks,” Kohler said. The officer told him to stay put. But he said he jumped and headed for the ammunition locker anyway.

“I wanted my family to know that if I died, I died fighting, not hiding,” he said.

Kohler and another man got a .50-caliber machine gun — “big as a cannon” — and fired at the attacking planes.

“‘Brrrit,’ like that,” he said, describing the sound of the gun. “I think I got the first guy who dropped the first bomb on Pearl Harbor.”

Kohler got a standing ovation.

Lawson Sakai, a Japanese American, told a different story. On Dec. 7, he was a student at a junior college in Southern California. On Dec. 8, he tried join the Navy to fight for his country.

“‘You have a Japanese name,’ the recruiter told me. We can’t take you,’” Sakai recalled.

“But I am an American,” Sakai said. “‘No, you are not,’ the man said to me. ‘You are an enemy alien.’”

Later in the war, Sakai joined the Army’s 442nd regimental combat team, fought in Europe and was wounded four times.

Thursday was not all war stories and condolences. About 300 middle school students from the Alameda Academy walked from their campus to the old warship. They were greeted by the Wahine U’i dance troupe, which performed a hula.

And during the Pearl Harbor program, others talked fondly about Hawaii. The day, they said, was about remembrance, but also the Aloha spirit of the island.

Only a handful of World War II veterans were on hand, sitting mostly in the front row. They are fading away. Kohler is 93, and Sakai is 94. Spanier, who was a child in 1941, is 84.

Toward the end of the program, Kohler recited a poem he’d written.

“Remember us,” he said at its end, his voice rising. “Remember us!”

At sunset, Kohler and other veterans were to participate in lighting a beacon atop Mount Diablo, which shines all night only once a year, on Dec. 7.

Carl Nolte is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesf