Wednesday marks 75 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

  • 75th anniversary of Japenese attack on Pearl Harbor
  • Bay area resident Bill Monfort, 100 this week, was stationed in Hawaii
  • Monfort will be guest of honor at Pearl Harbor Day event today in Largo

The early-morning Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval base in Hawaii led the country into World War II. 

Events are planned in Hawaii and across the nation. 

Thousands of other servicemen and women and members of the public are expected to attend and watch via a livestream feed.

Bay area resident Bill Monfort was stationed in Hawaii and vividly remembers Dec. 7, 1941. He turns 100 later this week.

Monfort, who was one of the first on his ship to hear about the attack, says he wants the younger generation to remember what happened. 

As the radio operator on his ship, Monfort sent the message: "Air raid Pearl Harbor, this is no drill," as the attack began. 

The surprise attack, which lasted about two hours, left 2,400 Americans dead and 1,000 wounded. 

Japanese fighter planes damaged or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Almost half of the casualties at Pearl Harbor occurred on the naval battleship USS Arizona, which was hit four times by Japanese bombers.

The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his "date which will live in infamy" speech and declared war on Japan. 

Monfort, who joined the Navy in 1935, was stationed at Pearl Harbor but had left just days before the attack to deliver fighter planes to a nearby base. He monitored the attack by radio.

When he returned to Pearl Harbor four days later he witnessed the wreckage and devastation. 

"I saw all the buildings all bombed out and there was pieces of airplane scattered all over," he said. "And I went on in to Pearl Harbor and saw the battlefields sitting on the bottom, one of them was capsized, and other ships destroyed, and there was still oil on the water burning and they were still getting people rescued, more or less."

After Pearl Harbor, Monfort continued serving in the Navy in the Pacific throughout the war. 

He will be a guest of honor today at the Pearl Harbor Day event at the Armed Forces History Museum in Largo.