PORT TOWNSEND — U.S. forces were dramatically unprepared for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, said Lars Watson, 88, during a Veterans Day program at Seaport Landing Retirement and Assisted Living facility Thursday.
Many of the guns were locked up or lacked ammunition, said Watson, who added that he was a Marine private serving on the USS West Virginia.
“We were fighting World War II with World War I equipment,” he said.
That changed within a few months as the nation geared to fight.
“When we got the right weapons, things changed, so you knew who was going to win,” Watson said.
The West Virginia, hit by two bombs and several torpedoes, sank in Pearl Harbor with more than 100 crew members lost. It was later salvaged and repaired.
Watson was one of four WW II veterans who spoke about their experiences to about half of the 89 residents at Seaport Landing in Port Townsend.
The number of World War II veterans is diminishing, with many now living in care facilities, said activities Director Cheryl Torres.
The idea of the facility putting on its own program “came to me in the middle of the night,” Torres said.
“Veterans Day is very important to people,” she said.
“We have a lot of veterans who are residents, but it is increasingly hard for them to get downtown to the [American] Legion,” which commemorated Veterans Day on Thursday.
Lida Sandquist, 90, was a nurse in the Pacific when she adopted a little gray schnauzer she named Rags.
She could fit the dog in her pocket and carry him between locations in her luggage in an attempt to hide the dog from her commander “who I am sure knew I had the dog but said nothing.”
She said the dog knew when to keep quiet and could sense when there was a Japanese soldier present.
“It wasn’t always light-hearted,” she said.
“Sometimes, we were short on supplies, and we didn’t have enough to get by.
“But people pulled together, and that’s America.”
Among Watson’s recollections was a mess sergeant “who was dumber than dumb and couldn’t subtract, add or anything else, so by the time he got to us, we’d get all the food that was left because he couldn’t keep track of what we had.”
Gerald Sandquist, 90 — who met his wife, a nurse, after the war — had his own medical experiences in the military.
He became an anesthesiologist even though when he enlisted, “I didn’t know anesthesia from apple butter.”
He said he recalled an instance when he was applying ether “to a big colored fellow about 6 feet 5 [inches] and 275 pounds who was lying down and actually lifted up the two men on the side of the bed into the air, but when the ether took hold, he set them down.”
Fred Grabas, 89, said he wanted to be a Navy fighter pilot but, at 5 feet, 3-inches tall, was too small to qualify.
Instead, he became a gunner, “where I could easily fit into the turret.”
“I’m amazed that you can remember so many dates,” Torres said.
“This has all been burned in your memory.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
