Survivor recalls fear, anger on day of Pearl Harbor attack

Survivor recalls fear, anger on day of Pearl Harbor attack

[...] a newlywed sailor, he recalled a Japanese plane flying low and slow in his direction as he rushed to his battleship from his home after hearing explosions and learning of the attack on the radio.

When he got the right angle, he banked over, turned his machine guns lose," Downing, now 103, said in an interview at a Waikiki hotel, "But fortunately he didn't bank far enough so it went right over my head.

Downing plans to return to Pearl Harbor Wednesday with a few dozen other survivors to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack that plunged the United States into World War II and left more than 2,300 service people dead.

Downing spent two hours fighting fires and checking the name tags of the dead so he could write their families personal notes about how they died.