Pearl Harbor survivor in Oxnard: ‘All hell broke loose’

USA Today/VC Star – Dec. 6, 2016

It was 75 years ago Wednesday that Oxnard resident Edward Waszkiewicz, then a 20-year-old fireman with the U.S. Navy, witnessed what he said sounded like the “end of the world coming” when he was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Waszkiewicz looked up and saw three planes swooping down onto what was known as “Battleship Row,” a group of eight U.S. battleships in port at Pearl Harbor.

“Then all hell broke loose,” Waszkiewicz said, recalling the moment the bombs dropped. “That’s when the war really started.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.” The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the U.S. involvement in World War II.

Test your Pearl Harbor knowledge here.

Sitting inside his home today where he lives with a caregiver, Waszkiewicz, now 95 years old, recalled some of the details of his time in the Navy.

Waszkiewicz, born in 1921, wanted to join the military at age 17 but had to wait until 1939 when he turned 18.

Joining the Navy was a chance to see the world, but it was also a way to help his Polish immigrant parents, who owned a farm in Michigan but were having financial difficulties.

Edward Waszkiewicz is shown during his retirement ceremony in the mid-1960s, a photo he keeps in his home. Today, at 95, the Pearl Harbor survivor lives in Oxnard. He went to the 50th anniversary 25 years ago with his family. (Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

His first assignment was aboard the carrier USS Enterprise. He eventually got assigned to Pearl Harbor to work with the firefighting group.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Waszkiewicz was on duty, driving a firetruck to the dock where the oil tanker USS Neosho was pumping gasoline and other fuel into Ford Island fuel tanks.

He looked up to see three planes swooping down on the southern side of the island. From where he was standing, he first thought they were U.S. planes — until they started dropping bombs.

The island shook when the first bomb hit. Another plane started machine-gunning the dock. When the USS Arizona was hit, about 200 yards away, Waszkiewicz had a full view.Day of Infamy

“The explosion was so violent,” he recalled. “I thought the end of the world was coming. Pieces of the ship fell everywhere.”

Waszkiewicz had jumped into the water to avoid being hit by the second plane’s machine gun. He ended up getting back on the dock, got back into his truck and drove back to the firehouse. He went out again with the fire crew and began fighting the fires ignited by explosives.

Waszkiewicz also witnessed the USS Shaw and USS Oklahoma being bombed, and he saw the USS Oklahoma roll over on its side.

“You really didn’t have time to be afraid, but I’m sure the thought ran through my head at the time,” he said. “There were quite a few fires thathad to be fought, and I was busy doing that.”

Ed Waszkiewicz, shown in a photo taken around 1939. He survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Photo: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

After the attack was over, he saw many men severely injured or dead.

Waszkiewicz stayed in Hawaii another five or six months. He continued with his firefighting training and retired from the Navy as a chief warrant officer in 1962.

His story is outlined in the book “Day of Infamy” by Walter Lord, which was released on the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. His children also interviewed him for a video that is posted on You Tube.