He then helped pass ammunition to the Maryland’s anti-aircraft guns.Īfter the battle, Russell and two others went to Ford Island, next to where the battleships were moored, in search of a bathroom. Jumping, he caught a rope hanging from the Maryland and escaped to that battleship without injury. He didn’t want to swim because leaked oil was burning in the water below. Once he got to the main deck, he crawled over the ship’s side and eyed the USS Maryland moored next door. “You had to walk sort of sideways,” he said. Russell clambered over and around toppled lockers while the battleship slowly rolled over. I thought they’d never stop,” Russell said. “Those darn torpedoes, they just kept hitting us and kept hitting us. Within 12 minutes, the hulking battleship capsized. He recalls heading topside when the attack started because he was trained to load anti-aircraft guns and figured he could help if any other loader got hurt.īut Japanese torpedo planes dropped a series of underwater missiles that pummeled the Oklahoma before he could get there. Russell is traveling to Hawaii with the Best Defense Foundation, a nonprofit founded by former NFL Linebacker Donnie Edwards that helps World War II veterans revisit their old battlefields. Survivors, now in their late 90s or older, stayed home last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and watched a livestream of the event instead. into World War II.Ībout 30 survivors and 100 other veterans from the war are expected to observe a moment of silence at 7:55 a.m., the minute the attack began. Russell plans to return to Pearl Harbor on Tuesday for a ceremony in remembrance of the more than 2,300 American troops killed in the Dec. Altogether 429 sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma would perish - the greatest death toll from any ship that day other than the USS Arizona, which lost 1,177. Within 12 minutes his battleship would capsize under a barrage of torpedoes. And I decided to get out of there,” Russell, now 101, said in a recent interview. Navy Seaman 1st Class David Russell first sought refuge below deck on the USS Oklahoma.īut a split-second decision on that December morning 80 years ago changed his mind, and likely saved his life. HONOLULU (AP) - When Japanese bombs began falling on Pearl Harbor, U.S.

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