71 years later Pearl Harbor survivors in Zephyrhills gathered to tell the younger generations about their experience on December 7, 1941.
Charles McClelland, a Navy veteran, was at Pearl Harbor that day, and he watched the planes come in as they started to drop bombs.
“A little confused but I remember from the sides of the plane they were Japanese,” said Charles McClelland, Pearl Harbor survivor.
George Kaass was also there that day aboard the U.S.S. San Francisco.
“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing, it was mind boggling, we were astounded, we just couldn’t understand,” said George Kaass, Pearl Harbor survivor.
Seven decades later Kaass and McClelland are in a room together telling the younger generations about that frightful day.
“We never knew anybody hated us like that you know,” said Kaass.
“I was just laying there shaking my fist at them as they flew over that’s about all I could do,” said McClelland.
They now share those stories as just a few of the remaining survivors of a day and a war that took place more than seven decades ago.
All the while remembering how important it is to acknowledge the significance of that moment in history.
“Brings attention to the people and what happened,” said McClelland.
“It’s so wonderful to know that I went through a war that changed the world, the United States, and my life too,” said Kaass.
More than 2,500 people were killed and another 1,000 injured during the Pearl Harbor ambush on December 7, 1941.