The Library of Congress also spoke with Mendonsa in 2005, who described the moment in detail and how it related to his war experience. He said, “Between the excitement of the whole works and probably a few drinks, but most importantly it was the uniform she had. If that girl did not have a nurse’s uniform on, I honestly believe that I never would have grabbed her. And what it goes back to is in the Pacific we operated with all the aircraft carriers, and the Bunker Hill got hit with a couple of suicide dive bombers, and she was all aflames. And we happened to get near the Bunker Hill, and there was a lot of men trapped in the fires, and they were jumping overboard knowing that we could pick them up.”