European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Pearl Harbor a Pearl Harbor casualty looks Mackby Gary Pomeroy staff writer Alfred j. Tip Sanders does l remember whether he was Reading a newspaper or a Book shortly before 8 . Or dec 7, 1941 but the 72-year-old retired air Force staff sergeant remembers the rest As though it happened yesterday Sanders then a Corporal in the army air corps was alone in the cab of a 3,000 gallon fuel truck Between hangar Lour and base operations a Hickam Field waiting to a Luul six or seven b-17s expected in from Hamilton Field Calif tin sitting there and i m hearing All this noise Thunder Tike explosion like Quot said Sanders who was assigned to the 23rd Materiel so of the t 7th air base Wing rumours of a possible japanese air attack had persisted Over the summer but had waned As Winter approached so he did not associate the noise with unfriendly tire. The u a Navy at Pearl Harbor was on Maneu vers a lot of the time and t figured it was some kind of Maneu vers Quot the Westfield Mas native said. And then i saw these planes coming overhead and they had the red markings the red Ball on them and i knew they weren t our Sanders said i saw the planes flying Low and then saw the hangar Ruthi across from base operations. Blow up and Man i saw that thing and i got out of that truck in a hurry and i started going Back toward the Barracks you better believe i was but he did not make it. A bomb exploded nearby and he lost consciousness. He awoke several hours later in Tripler Hospital which was a quonset hut at the time. The wounded airman thought he was in a much higher place. When i opened my eyes i saw the White ceiling there i thought i was in he said. He had shrapnel wounds in his right Elbow and Back and was Black and Blue from my butt up to my he also had two 50-caliber machine gun wounds one through the upper part of each leg he was vaguely aware of the chaos around him at the Hospital at that time they called in All the civilian doctors that they could get hold of. There was turmoil he recalled a korean doctor pouring some Ether on a pad of Gauze Quot and he stuck it on my nose and he told me to take a couple of deep breaths and that was it he dug the shrapnel out of my Elbow and my Back. Quot later Sanders gave the shrapnel to his lather Back Home in Massachusetts the elder Sanders had it Nickel plated and welded to a lob on his watch to carry As a memory of his son s Brush with death after surgery he spent 72-Days recuperating from the wounds that earned him a purple heart Sanders returned to his unit upon his release and spent the remainder of world War ii loading and refuelling planes at Hickam Sanders had joined the army in 1936 because there were no jobs Back Home. He was an infantryman before he re enlisted and switched to the army air corps in 1940. The move earned him a Transfer from the army at fort Prebble Maine to Luke Field Hawaii where he lived for four months until he settled at nearby Hickam. By the end of the War he had nearly 10 years in the military and decided to make it a 20-year career. A by the end of the War i had nearly 10 years in so i decided to stay Quot he said he retired from Active duty in 1960 and has lived in Frankfurt Germany since with his German born wife Rosel whom he married while assigned in Germany in 1958. He suffered a mild stroke two years ago. It Cost him some of his mobility but not his enthusiasm and Bright smile. That smile grew even More recently when he Learned a amps gory Pomeroy Alfred Quot tip Quot Sanders spent 72 Days recovering from his wounds before returning to duty. That american airlines the Hessen chapter of the noncommissioned officers association and the metro Region area support group.,marketing division had arranged to Send the couple to the Pearl Harbor reunion this weekend in Hawaii he has attended several other reunions and was not Able to afford to attend the Golden anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The arrangement was a Complete Surprise. Quot you can t imagine what this Means to us Quot he said the Sanders plan to Swap stories with other survivors and tip May look up another survivor from the attack a his fuel truck. Quot do you know that that refuelling unit that i sat on there never got a scratch on it they never hit that thing a the japanese remember Tooby the associated press Shoichi Watanabe now a scholar was at Home getting ready to go to school when he heard the news. A so it s started at last i thought i was a fifth grader in elementary school but i had been Inte posted in the Oil talks so i had expected it to Start sooner or later Quot he Sai Kihachi Okamoto a film director was in a classroom at Meiji University. He recalled several hawaiian Nisei second generation japanese americans. Gravely huddling together in a Corner of the classroom Quot at that time i was a 17-year-old student immediately thought a horrible thing has happened then i thought my life Span would last until i was 23 years old if i was Lucky but most Likely until i was 21. Then i thought a i must see As Many films As i can before i die Quot Okamoto said that As he predicted half his friends died in the War by the age of 21. Quot i was at the 11th Headquarters at the northeastern Border of former Manchukuo Manchuria in Hulin City a said defense writer Osamu Kaihara. The equipment for the front line against the soviet Union was supposedly fully adequate As written in the strategy plan but was in fact in sufficient and meager. So it was unthinkable to win a War against the United states. I wondered Why Japan had started a War with the United he said legislator Masaharu Motoda was in japanese occupied Taipei Taiwan where he was a draftee Servin at military Headquarters knowing that the War ahead could not be easy i received the report gravely thinking that finally we were plunging into War Quot he said. Former Singer and writer Yoshiko Ishii was at Home. She was overwhelmed she said by the feeling Quot at last has come to this.1 my older sister and i were students at music school and i was afraid we would no longer be Able to play music or sing Quot she said
