Pearl Harbor 1941

Pearl Harbor veterans visit USS Oklahoma mast at Muskogee memorial

But for four veterans of the battleship USS Oklahoma, this pipe - a section of one of the ship's masts - conjured up memories of a graceful ship and hundreds of friends they lost.

The USS Oklahoma, the USS Arizona and the USS Utah were the only battleships destroyed during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Of the more than 1,900 crew members aboard the USS Oklahoma, 429 lost their lives. Today, fewer than 50 of the ship's crew members are still alive.

Ed Vezey, 91, of Moore called that Dec. 7 a day "that changed our lives forever."

He was one of the USS Oklahoma's four veterans who toured Muskogee's War Memorial Park on Friday to visit the mast section.

Vezey saw the mast section when it was delivered to War Memorial Park last June from Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

He had manned an anti-aircraft battery and remembered where he was when the attack started - at his bunk having a friendly argument with his roommate over whether they should go swimming or have breakfast first.

Just then, the bombs and torpedoes began exploding, and "all hell broke loose," Vezey said.

He hurried to the deck to man his station until the ship started to roll onto its side from multiple bomb and torpedo hits. Vezey said he rolled with the ship into the water, where he swam to safety.

"I lost all my friends that day, for all practical purposes," Vezey said.

Among them was his roommate, Francis "Frank" Flaherty of Charlotte, Mich., who died while helping others escape from the capsizing ship. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Paul Goodyear, 93, of Casa Grande, Ariz., was a signalman aboard the USS Oklahoma who was just coming on for his watch when he saw planes approaching and dropping bombs.

At first, he thought they were American planes dropping dummy bombs into the water. Then a nearby hangar exploded into a ball of fire.

When he looked through his binoculars, "I could see the meatball on the wings," he said of the Japanese flag insignia.

William Hendley, 91, of Wilmington, N.C., was not on the USS Oklahoma during the attack. He had spent four years on the ship and was transferred in September 1941.

Hendley said the USS Oklahoma was always his preference, saying it had the best and most helpful crews.

"It was emotional for me to see the mast," he said Friday.

Japanese Midget Submarines sneak into Pearl Harbor-1941

, A third midget sub was found grounded on the east side of Oahu and captured. A fourth was damaged by a depth charge and abandoned. The fifth sub was never found, however a recent discovery in 2009, suggests it is the fifth submarine, also located outside the harbor. An intriguing mystery, is that both of it’s torpedoes are missing, suggesting it may have entered the harbor and attacked a battleship. None of the five midget submarines, returned to their mother ships. (Audio about the missing fifth sub)

Late in the afternoon of Dec. 7, 1941, Gen. De Witt, and other continental defense commanders, were notified of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and that we were now at war with Japan. A second message the same day, notified all the commanders that Rainbow 5 was to be put into effect immediately, which was upgraded to Defense Category B. This category, required full manning of all coastal defenses, as well as reassignment of any available ground and air defenses to back them up.

Tweet 1941: The Pearl Harbor Tweet. Never forget.

1941 Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona: December 1941, USS Arizona explodes and sinks, hundreds of…

Pearl Harbor 1941 (Education): Pearl Harbor 1941 1.0Device: iOS iPad OnlyCategory: EducationPrice: ... iPhone OS 4

New iPhone App: Pearl Harbor 1941 (Education)

“@ghiejhae26: The Japanese planes that attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 were manufactured by Mitsubishi.

PEARL HARBOR 1941, DAY OF INFAMY

December 7, 1941 was one of the single most decisive days of World War II - the day that brought the USA into the fight.

Pearl Harbor, 1941

Pearl Harbor, 1941, a bibliography

December 8, 1941, MacArthur's Pearl Harbor

The devastating defeat of American military forces in the Phillipines is chronicled in this fascinating, lively account of an often overlooked chapter in ...

Descent Into Darkness, Pearl Harbor, 1941 : A Navy Diver's Memoir