LAKEPORT, Calif. – First-person accounts of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 were at the heart of Lake County's annual commemoration of that turning point in US history on Monday.
Monday marked the 74th anniversary of the attack, that killed more than 2,400 servicemembers and civilians, wounded more than 1,000 others, did serious damage to the US fleet and caused the United States to enter the second world war.
The event began at the foot of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Memorial Mast in Library Park, where the Lake County Military Funerals Honor Team fired a rifle volley and played “Taps.”
The ceremony then moved across the street to the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall.
Central to the annual commemoration is not just the attack – which propelled the United States into World War II long after many of the countries that would become its allies in the war already had entered the fray – but keeping alive the memories of the local residents who had witnessed it.
For more than a decade, Ronnie and Janeane Bogner have been involved with the association, offering support and organization for events, and friendship to the men and women of the association.
The Bogners have traveled with survivors to Pearl Harbor, hosted them at their home, thrown them birthday parties, and even been granted honorary survivor status.
As such, they've made it part of their goal to remember the legacy of service of the local association members and to honor those still among us.
Taking a seat again this year at the head of the event was Bill Slater, who served aboard the USS Pennsylvania. He was dressed in what has become the Pearl Harbor survivors' attire for such events: A Hawaiian shirt, white pants and a cap denoting his ship. He was joined by Alice Darrow, whose late husband, Dean, was aboard the USS West Virginia.
The storied band of local Pearl Harbor survivors has now been reduced to Slater, who at 91 still retains his sparkling-eyed wit, and who – as part of the local tradition – gets a bloody Mary from Ronnie Bogner at the start of the event.
Bogner qualified that the drink was weak, and Slater added that he's wobbly enough these days and so he doesn't need to be trying anything stronger. Sheriff Brian Martin, the event's guest speaker, joked that he would give Slater a ride home.
During his remarks, Martin – a veteran of the US Army – recounted the lives lost in the attack, which occurred on a Sunday morning as many men were planning to enjoy a relaxed day either at the base or on liberty on the island.
Martin said the United States is a patriotic and compassionate country, but will fight ferociously when it must, and that was the case in World War II.
“We are great because of people like Bill Slater and Alice Darrow, who answered the call to serve,” Martin said. As such, he said the country owes a obligation to those who served with dedication and honor.
The men and women who fought in the war brought to their effort dedication and professionalism, said Martin, noting his own gratitude to them.
Before having Slater and Darrow share their stories, Bogner recalled some of the notable experiences of other Lake County residents who had survived the attack, but have since died, with their names now engraved on a gold bell that is tolled annually in their memory.
Bogner recalled how that, at one point, Lake County's Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter had been “way overrepresented” because of its large membership.
He said none of those men had considered themselves heroes. Most were men who came from humble backgrounds, did their duty during the war and came home to raise families and live normal lives.
Among them was Walter Urmann of Clearlake, who was aboard the destroyer USS Blue. Urmann had recounted over the years seeing a Japanese plane pass over and the pilot waving at him during the attack. Urmann died March 25, 2012, at age 88.
Clarence “Bud” Boner of Clearlake Oaks served aboard the battleship USS Tennessee. He and his family had owned a farm in Kansas, which they lost during the Great Depression. A short time later, a supply of natural gas was found on their land. Boner, coming from such an impoverished background, got into the Navy to find opportunity, Bogner said. Boner died Nov. 21, 2012, at age 90.
Jim Harris of Lucerne was aboard the destroyer tender USS Dobbin, known as the “admiral's barge.” He had turned 17 the month before the attack, by which pointed he had already been in the Navy for a a few years after having lied about his age.
Later in the South Pacific he would narrowly escape a hospital ahead of the Japanese, and in 1944 would find himself aboard the destroyer USS McCook at the D-Day landing at Normandy Beach. Bogner said he used to joke with Harris that he should either always play the lottery or never play it. Harris died Jan. 8, 2011, at age 86.
Other men who had come to make Lake County their home in the years after the attack included Fred Leighton, who served aboard the USS Ramsay and died in March 2008 at age 86; Clearlake Oaks resident Chuck Bower, 87, who served at the US Sub Base, died Nov. 12, 2010; and Floyd Eddy, 85, of Kelseyville, who served aboard the mine sweeper USS Trever, died in May 2011.
Henry Anderson of Lakeport served aboard the battleship USS Tennessee. Bogner had arranged several years ago for Anderson and Slater to share a toast – reminiscent of that shared by the last two members of Doolittle's Raiders – for being the last survivors. Anderson died on Jan. 6, 2014, at age 95.
The real heroes
Slater, who noted that “Old Father Time has done a pretty good job on me,” said he gets “too damned emotional” talking about Pearl Harbor.
He recalled having to go below deck to retrieve shells for the Pennsylvania' 3-inch anti-aircraft gun he was helping operate, as the lift wasn't working. Had he still been standing on deck, Slater said he would have been hit by the bomb that landed on the ship.
Trying to get started shooting at the Japanese planes was further hampered by the fact that the ammunition was locked up and the sailor who set the fuses wasn't there. Still, Slater and his fellow sailors managed to start returning fire.
“The smaller guns have a hell of a crack to them,” he said, explaining that the larger guns on the ships roared.
“I know one thing for sure – we owe a hell of a debt to all of the guys who are no longer with us,” said Slater. “They're the real heroes.”
In 1941, young Alice Beck graduated with her nursing degree and, after reviewing all of the branches of the serving that were recruiting, settled on the US Navy.
“They were the cutest,” Alice Darrow recounted at the Monday event.
She served at a medical facility at Mare Island, where a lot of sailors who had been at Pearl Harbor and in the South Pacific were brought for treatment.
Darrow recalled the young men as being the best patients. They were good-natured, did what they were told, and always had a joke and a smile.
She said she and her colleagues at the facility had been trained to be ready for the possibility of a Japanese attack on the West Coast.
In 1939, Wisconsin native Dean Darrow joined the Navy and arrived at Pearl Harbor two years later aboard the USS West Virginia.
On the day of the attack, Darrow had planned to go on liberty into nearby Honolulu, where he was going to see a show, have some lunch and go down and watch girls at the beach, Alice Darrow said.
He was getting dressed when the attack started. He ran to his station and, like Slater had, found the ammunition was locked up, his widow said.
Dean Darrow watched the USS Arizona blow up, saw the USS Oklahoma roll over and was blown from the deck of the West Virginia when it took one of its seven hits. He landed in the water, which had a burning layer of oil on the surface.
He was able to swim underneath the burning oil, and as he was being pulled into a boat, Japanese planes strafed the water and he was hit by a bullet, which went through his back and lodged in his heart. It would be months, however, before doctors found out the source of his fainting spells and side pain.
Dean Darrow was transferred to Mare Island, where in early 1942 he underwent heart surgery, then a procedure that still had been done only rarely. Before he went into surgery, he got Nurse Beck – who was nicknamed “Becky” – to agree to go on liberty with him if he survived.
He did, they later went on their first date in San Francisco, and were married after both were discharged from the Navy. He died Dec. 22, 1991, shortly before their 50th wedding anniversary.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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