At 106, oldest Pearl Harbour survivor tells story of attack

Centerville (US): Freeman Johnson, the oldest living survivor of the Pearl Harbour attack, was below deck repairing a boiler aboard the USS St Louis when Japanese planes struck on Dec 7, 1941.

“While all the rigamarole was going on topside, I was inside a steam drum. Couldn’t see anything, absolutely nothing,” said Johnson, now 106. By the time he reached the deck, the cruiser had already escaped to sea.

“We were way out to sea. All you saw was ocean,” he said. “I was just a sailor, just a swabbie. They don’t tell you anything if you don’t need to know.” When children ask if he was scared, Johnson replies: “You’re not scared. You’re too busy to be scared.”

Johnson became the oldest surviving Pearl Harbour veteran after Ira “Ike” Schab died in Dec at 105. Only 11 survivors of the attack remain alive. For decades, Johnson rarely spoke about Pearl Harbour. Now, the former sailor, who uses a walker and is hard of hearing, has become an unlikely celebrity, arriving at his 106th birthday celebration in a limousine surrounded by television cameras.

At 19, unemployed and living at home in Waltham, Massachusetts, Johnson joined the Navy because he believed it would be easier than the Army. —AP