if they become self-serving, then they will decline. that's when they reach out is when they'll get more people interested in their organizations. >> how about one more question for this evening? sir? >> my daughter's best friend went through confirmation at temple. and arab buy pulled out a to row and he said this is from a czech village that was destroyed by the germans. they salvaged that and made the children read from the torah. do you think it's important for them to remember the stories in this generation and what's the best way to do that? >> did you hear that okay? >> no, i didn't. >> how important is it for future generations to remember these stories? >> it's a very good question. it's very important. if we want to see a world where

the tragedies of world war ii and especially the holocaust should never happen again, we must teach the young people, the future leaders of the world, the next generation to remember to speak about it and to know what happened. i've been speaking about this for the past 60 years. i've been invited several times to come to germany and speak there, invited by the german government, to speak there in the high schools. we are going out next week on a special trip to poland and to

germany to make a documentary, which most of it will be distributed to schools for the students to learn of what we saw, what happened, and so they can remember. and i want to tell you this. when i first came to this country, speaking about the holocaust was a no-no. nobody wanted to know. nobody wanted to hear. especially the older generations. if you want to know why, i can give you my opinion. because the older generation, especially the leaders in communities would have been asked right away what did you do during the war? where were you? did you speak out? did you write in the papers?

did you put pressure on the government to do something about it? and so they didn't speak about it. the younger people now want to know. we have requests from schools in the entire area. i will be speaking next week in three places before we go to europe. actually two schools and one lawyer's office. people want to know. the young people want to know. and so it is our obligation to tell them, to teach them, and to let them know because in the future, they are the future. you see when you speak to young people in school, they will go home to their parents and tell them what they heard in school today that this survivor came to

school and they spoke about his experience, his life in the concentration camps and they get those. when the older generation, they don't go home to their children and lecture them. they keep it to themselves. so it's the important part to speak to the young people, to the leaders of the future. and again, so that this tragedy will never, never, ever happen again. it is a tragedy because we were told that it will be the end of it, but look what we have now. there's murder, killing of civilian populations, going on in a lot of places in the world. people still didn't learn. people killed their own

neighbors, their own friends, their own relatives because they are on the different side of the political forum. look what's happening in syria. what happened in libya, what happened before in the former yugoslavia. and who was there? you, the men in uniform. you have fought. you have protected people all over the world since america's existence. look at these men here. and i said sincerely and i mean it. i wouldn't be sitting here, my friends wouldn't be sitting here, if it wasn't for these men that liberated us, that defeated

the nazis and gave us a new life. gave us a new chance. i came to the united states with nothing, as a living skeleton. i kissed the ground when i came to this country. not because the ground is so sweet there, not because there was chocolate on the ground, but because this country gave me the opportunity that i could not find any place in the world. it gave me the opportunity to restore my life and to prove to the world that i'm not useless, that i didn't have to be killed, and that i can be effective. and thank god, i have three generations that are very proudly have my son, i have three children, my son is over

here. a very high position in the united states. my grandson, i have three children, three grandsons, and two great grandsons. i defeated hitler. hitler wanted to kill me. i'm alive. he is dead. and i brought into this world very productive generations. i remember my youngest grandson is now in college, but when he was about 10 years old, maybe

younger, he came over to me, and i don't know how it came to a young boy like this, and he says grandparent, i'm very happy that you survived and that you're here. if you wouldn't have survived, i wouldn't be here either. and so i'm walking proud in this country and very grateful what it offered me in giving me a chance and an opportunity. thank you all. >> when you think that during world war ii twoen 50 and 70 million people were killed and you think about those who never had a chance after the war and what they could have done in their own professions, in their own lives. so these guys obviously feel very blessed to be here and we're very blessed to have you as part of this panel. and ross and jimmy as well for

the great job they did bringing your story to life. so thank you very much. we have one quick treat before you go. brian fox is a well-known local artist. he came to me and said i would love to do a painting of major winners to support your leadership project. and brian is here. i'd just like to share with you the painting that he did, which is just amazing. brian, come on up and as we say good-bye to everybody and thank our panel, brian will show us this amazing painting he did. mrs. winters just passed away yesterday. so she joined dick in heaven. what a great tribute that brian has done. [ applause ]

>> again, thank you so much for coming. we were happy you were able to brave the rain and the red sox 1-5 start. better days are ahead. thank you for coming and please enjoy the rest of your night. thank you. [ applause ] this memorial day weekend, american history tv is featuring sto stories from american veterans. up next we'll hear eyewitness accounts from a national park service oral history project with pearl harbor veterans and survivors describing what they saw that day. early on the morning of december 7th, 19 had 1 japanese submarines and carrier-based planes attacked the u.s. fleet at pearl harbor, one of the principal naval bases. this past december marks the 70th anniversary of those

attacks. >> he and i had the job. belts and uniforms and the whole b bit. we were doing that in the evening down in the double bottoms. very hot. not air-conditioned in those days or even today. and finally after some hours of that, allen chap lin said let's go to the club and have a beer. i said fine. we ran into a bunch of shipmates he knew. i didn't know any of them. having been a tennessee marine. but any way, they said major, come on and join me. it's my birthday.

and he did. and after he got into the spirit of the party, the birthday party, he told me to go on home to my wife in wikiki and i'd join them in the morning. i caught a cab and went home to my bribe in wikiki and the next morning there was no arizona to join. living next door to me was a lieutenant commander who was assigned to the fleet weather central in pearl. and he got a call to get his tail down to his battle station. and he knocked on my door and he said, come on. i came out and could see the flak over pearl harbor. and so i got in touch with some of my tennessee shipmates and we got a cab and went straight on out to pearl. at point landing, we could see

ships burning and there was actually a japanese torpedo that had made a run and beached itself up on the land. it was lying there. and boats were coming past mary point and they would call out i'll take you to any ship. i couldn't go to arizona, so i ended up in a bomb shelter on the north end of fort island, quite near the arizona actually. because the second wave was hitting the place. i met a chaplain i had relieved. he had swum ashore from the arizona. and with him were about 14 other

marines. i didn't e know any of them, as i say. one was named corporal knighting gail, i remember him only from the odd name. but we hunkered down in that bomb shelter until all clear was sounded. i was convinced that somebody had had me up there by the hand because i had intended to be aboard that ship. i told my wife i was not coming home and just because alan wanted a beer, i did go home. and that saved my life. i think they were just carrying out their orders too. from a military point of view, they did a superb job. they were pros. and we were not prepared unfortunately. they knew exactly what they were doing. the tennessee got two hits, center line hits.

one right through the top of number three, one on the center gun of number 2. they were good. >> the last week we were out there, just before the the attack, japanese submarines followed us all the time. while we were out to sea for a week. and wouldn't surface during the day. but at night they would surface and pick it up and immediately submerge. we'd send messages to them on the radio and international frequency and they would not answer. so we knew they were jap subs. usually, you work this way. one battle force would be in and one would be out. division one was the one force and then the other battleship division two and four were the other ones. and they would go out. we were coming in on friday,

december 5th. we always flew in and we'd fly in and land at fort island or somewhere when the ship was in harbor. any way, there was one coming out. i said, what's the matter with the other battle force, they are not coming out. >> they decided to leave them all in the harbor and send out the faster cruiser scouting force. and i said, well, why? he said, well, if we go to war, which he says things are touch and go, they figure the only thing that will happen here is if some hit and run raids at night by a shelling of submarines and they can't hurt the wagons inside. but out here, we're not fast enough to outrun them. so that's the thinking of putting them inside. well satisfied me.

we beached them over there. and then went back aboard the ship. there was no next week as far as the arizona went. we were parked where the memorial is right now. and everything was pretty normal except we needed some work. we were going to let our fires die down and take our power from the vessel and start monday morning, we were supposed to be working on the ship. the next day, we got hit. it was right after breakfast. just before 8:00. i bought some christmas cards the day before.

several of us. we were going to go into the storerooms where no one would bother us and send christmas cards. i thought i needed a bath first. i put a bath towel around my neck and had my toilet gear in my hand, going to get a bath. and then i heard these explosions. i thought, what's going on? they are blasting on fort island, somebody said. i say uh-uh. they were building, but they don't work on sundays. there was a lot of bombs laying around because they were putting a possible chance to go out in the type of subs. and i said, they had these depth chargers. they looked like ash cans off a destroyer, but they had them fixed so they could hook them. i said, some idiot probably kicked one of them fuses over

there and blew a hanger up. let's take a look. so we went up topside. over fort island, big fires. and lots of smoke. and see an airplane or two flying around up there. and still didn't ring a bell. because we see airplanes flying all the time. but then we turn around and look up the harbor and here comes a couple airplanes. i said the army is out pretty early today on sunday. then i saw the torpedo plane carrying a torpedo, and i said, two guys with me, and i said, hey, the army don't got no torpedo planes. that plane has a fish under it. just then they dropped the torpedo and it hit the oklahoma,

two ships ahead of us. then they came back over the arizona. so we got down and missed us by about three feet across the deck. they sounded an air raid and then they said all engaged personnel go to the third deck. theoretically i'm unengaged. pi didn't have an air raid station. so i was going to wait for an assignment of where to go. we headed for the third deck. and just as we got started to go down the ladder to the third deck, it sounds. and also fire on the quarter deck was passed. and i said to the guys ahead of me, i said come on back up here, we have a battle station. general quarters. i turn around and come back up.

there was a marine lieutenant standing there. and he says, get back down there. i said, i'm going to my battle station. he said get back down there. i said i'm not panicking i'm going to my battle station. i went to my battle station. and the other two guys were in front of me going down the ladder. they didn't get back up. so they are still out there. one hit down through the quarter deck and the fire was down the deck below. but it looked like a blow torch coming out of the hole. we were out there trying to get that fire apparatus going. i said i'm on the phone trying to get them. nobody answered. we had a few drops coming out of the hose.

then we get hit four or five more times. every time e we get hit, it would knock us down and we'd get back up again and we'd get hit again. four or five times, we got hit. we got the big bomb down that blew the magazines. when those magazines blew, you could feel the ship just raise out of the water. just like a bucking bronco. then that big fire ball came rolling back. i dropped my nozzle. and i remember this. i still have my towel wrapped around my neck. i put a knot in it. and i didn't have a hat on. i ducked my head in my arms. i turned my back and that concussion and fire ball hit, syria. i didn't feel anything until i was in the water. and i mean i was down in the

water deep. and i fought to get to the surface. i saw i could still see. and i looked back at the ship. i'm out there in the water, and i couldn't see a living person on the ship, not one. so i couldn't see anybody. i said i'm not going back aboard because there's no use. we had oil in the water and a fire on the water up forward and you look forward and can see fire. the wind was blowing the fire forward, which was good. but i didn't relish the idea of fire. it was fairly close. so i struck out for the nevada. and with several guys swimming towards the nevada. and two or three of them just gave up. nobody is in a position to help

anybody because you're out there in the water and you have your shoes on and you're just swimming for yourself. three of us got over to a whale boat with ores. i was too weak to get in. so i hung on the side of it for a half minute or more. i threw a leg over and pulled myself into the whale boat. the nevada is down almost. the second wave of japs hit. they concentrated on her pretty much because she was heading out. so they hit her bad. i remember we got hit up forward and it knocked us all askew inside there. and i thought i was looking -- i thought i was in the air looking down at the ship because i could see these big caps looking right up at me. when i raelszed i'm on the deck,

the deck just peeled up like this when the deck hit. what was normally down here was up here like this. she was on fire. so they had a lot of wounded. i couldn't do anything so i went out and started getting wounded guys on to life rafts to get them headed over to the hospital over there towards the navy hospital. and they passed the word for they need some men to fight fires. so went back there and we fought fires. you throw a mattress in the water and soak it in the water. then you throw the mattress and stomp on it to put out fire. two trips through that boat deck, and i'm worn out. i've had it, see. i'm carrying stupid, heavy mattresses.

i stepped over guys that were laying there, their arms were blown off, their heads were blown off, but i was in such a state that it didn't seem to bother me. i was so tired that i just, i had to get out of the way. i was too weak to carry a mattress up topside anymore. and i tell you, i was a pretty sturdy young man, but it been quite a day. i went in the black smith shop and i went over in the corner and i laid down. all i wanted to do was sleep. i was just worn out completely. if you ever really had fatigue, you know what i'm talking about. i went to sleep. and then a couple guys were shaking me. and i say they are core men. and they said, are you all right? i said, i'm okay. just let me sleep. one guy says, he's hurt, he's bleeding.

one asked why you were oil soaked. i said i'm off the arizona. he said we better get you to sick bare. i hurt bad when i started moving. i yelled at him, leave me alone. they gave me a sled of morphine. it was like putting a nice, warm blast over you. and i didn't hurt anymore. they said we have no place in sick bay, so they put me on a motor launch and i headed for the hospital ship. i went back down. they were way over there. i go down all the battleships. here's the california sinking. here's the oklahoma capsized. here's west virginia, burned. and behind her the arizona is in shambles. i said, good god, there's our battle fleet. i do remember this much on the hospital ship though. it must have been hours later because i was laying there half

asleep probably. somebody woke me up and here, drink this. they put this tube thing in my mouth. i looked at the guy and he's oriental. i thought oh god, they have captured us, see. and i -- get the hell away from me you so and so jap. and someone said, no, he's one of our orderlies. he's okay. so they brought me another and i was hungry and i sucked that soup completely down. two busted lips, but i drank all the soup any way. i spent a quite a number of days in the hospital ship. i didn't feel too bad because i see guys in the bunks next to me that were dying. and i wasn't dying. >> i was asked if i wanted on a

battleship and i thought that would be an ideal place. a nice, big ship in the pacific. so i took that assignment. and joined the marine detachment in long beach, california, on 7, december, '41, i was the last watch before breakfast. i was with the admiral. and then i got off and had breakfast and get cleaned up. the first thing that i felt a couple thumps on. not real sharp but evidently those were bombs or something going off and being transferred by water probably. my thought was that it was a water barge bumping. they used to come and give us