Few Pearl Harbor Survivors Around For 74th Anniversary Of Attack

By Kelly Ryan

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor gathered to remember 74 years after the attack.

Many are voicing concerns that we may be headed to war following the recent attack in San Bernardino.

The Dec. 7 attack was a major surprise for Americans and there was a great deal of fear—something some veterans say isn't too far off from how things are today.

It was a simple ceremony marking the 74th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. James Foutz, 94, was on the USS Vestal, tied along the Arizona, when the bombing began. The then-20-year-old received shrapnel wounds and later the Purple Heart.

Bernard Gearing, 86, is a veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam wars. He says from the accounts of veterans he knows, that day was terrifying.

Larry Lindsay, 81, was just 12 at the time, and remembers being told to hide under a school desk.

"When they bombed Pearl Harbor I mean it was a bad thing because it was a sneak attack," he said.

Some veterans see a parallel between the terror that day and the last week's San Bernardino attack. Many of the veterans believe it will take the U.S. going into battle to fight the terrorists, but Monday was about remembering what then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described as a date which will live in infamy.

"History repeats itself and you have to be aware of what might be coming down the road," Gearing said.

With fewer surviving veterans, there are fewer ceremonies remembering the day with fewer parades. Monday's ceremony brought one Pearl Harbor survivor and one World War II veteran.