A typical 17-year-old boy may read about the attacks on Pearl
Harbor in textbooks at school; When George Duncan was 17, he lived
through it.
A typical 17-year-old boy may read about the attacks on Pearl Harbor in textbooks at school; When George Duncan was 17, he lived through it.
It has now been 70 years since the day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt described as a “date which will live in infamy.” On Dec. 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, on Hawaii’s island of Oahu. Congress declared war the next day, and the United States entered World War II.
A resident at Pacific Hills Manor on Noble Court in Morgan Hill, Duncan, now 87, sits in a wheelchair in his room, his blue eyes tired as he politely tries to put together his story of his years in the Navy.
“George, shake those cob webs out of your head,” he says to himself as he remembers. “It was a very long time ago.”
He enlisted shortly after his 17th birthday. His boot camp training was for about six weeks and held in San Diego, a long way from his hometown of Kennewick, Wash., which he describes as a “winter paradise.” He came from a family with one sister, an older brother Charles and kid brother Tommy.
Duncan later became a welder, married and has stepchildren. He says his favorite part about being in the Navy, was his shore leave in Boston, Mass.
“It was a good port, and there were lots of girls,” he said with a sly smile.
Duncan was in the Navy for five years and four months. He was a seaman, first class and later on a third class boatswain mate and served on a total of three ships: The U.S.S. Minneapolis, a cruiser, the U.S.S. Massachusetts which was a battleship and the U.S.S. Saint Paul. Cruisers are named after cities and battleships are named after states, he clarified. He said he sailed in the South Pacific and even went through the Panama Canal on the U.S.S. Saint Paul.
“I saw a lot of water,” he said.
Nearby on his bed lays a framed page taken out from the 1945 “The War Cruise of the U.S.S. Saint Paul” with photos of the official surrender ceremonies on Sept. 2, 1945. The book is a type of yearbook and contains black and white photos and information from the U.S.S Saint Paul that “will keep your days abroad the Saint Paul forever fresh,” reads the foreword.
Duncan’s first ship however, the U.S.S Minneapolis was the one he was aboard in 1941, still 17, when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred.
“I hate to talk about it really,” he said, looking down at his hands. He pauses.
“Our ship was right outside the harbor. It came over the loud speaker that a small submarine was sneaking into Pearl Harbor. At that time, that’s when the attack occurred.”
The small submarine was a one-man submarine. Shortly after, “that’s when all hell broke loose,” he said.
According to a report from www.history.navy.mil of the U.S.S. Minneapolis, the vessel went to General Quarters immediately after the attack and later joined Task Force One. She was involved in other World War II battles, such as the Battle of Tassafaronga where they were attacked by the Japanese with massive torpedoes.
When asked if he was scared when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, Duncan took some time to pause again, close his eyes and think.
“Well you know, that’s a good question. I probably was, but I was too damn young to know it.”
