Abe, Zenji
(Fighter pilot in the Pearl Harbor) , speaking Japanese:
- "I didn’t know if I would return alive from this action, so I wrote my will and handed it to my family. On the flight I had the photo of my wife and son with me.
"
Feary, Robert
(1941 USA embassy in Tokyo) , speaking English:
- "It involved the danger that the Japanese would feel trapped and war would be inevitable.
They had less and less oil with each kilometre they were driving taxi.
"
Feary, Robert
(1941 USA embassy in Tokyo) , speaking English:
- "It was a big delusion. Only very late, in the end of the negotiations in November did the US government send a proposal to Tokyo. This was taken as an ultimatum.
"
Watson, Myrtle
(nurse in Pearl Harbor) , speaking English:
- "The patients arrived only a few minutes before we caught sight of the approaching airplanes. 5 minutes to 8. I had been on duty for an hour.
"
Abe, Zenji
(Fighter pilot in the Pearl Harbor) , speaking Japanese:
- "The weather was windy and a little cloudy. We were worried if we would be able to see the target. And then I heard my radio.
"
Normann, Robert
(American naval officer on board Battleship Nevada) , speaking English:
- "Yes, it was a great surprise. When I came on board, a plane was buzzing off over us. He was shooting us by machine gun after having thrown the torpedo.
"
Watson, Myrtle
(nurse in Pearl Harbor) , speaking English:
- "The planes were flying very low. We saw the sign of Japan, the rising sun, on the red scarf of the pilots. They were so low that we could even see their faces.
"
Abe, Zenji
(Fighter pilot in the Pearl Harbor) , speaking Japanese:
- "I was diving and I saw that tracer bullets were flying in my direction. I knew that the bullets I could see could not hit me. It’s always the ones we can’t see which cause death. I had no time to think about things like that. The enemy was waiting for me.
"
Normann, Robert
(American naval officer on board Battleship Nevada) , speaking English:
- "Dead people all around, we ran to our machine guns, carried our dead comrades away and replaced them.
"
Watson, Myrtle
(nurse in Pearl Harbor) , speaking English:
- "The victims had been carried in so fast that we could hardly differentiate between the injured and the dead. They were put on top of each other and a sergeant walked around with a morphine injection and gave it to all those who needed it. That was all he could do.
"
Abe, Zenji
(Fighter pilot in the Pearl Harbor) , speaking Japanese:
- "A hit-and-run raid has to be a surprise. But only after the declaration of war – even if it is sent five minutes earlier. It was a big shame that the Americans in Pearl Harbour did not get our declaration.
"
Feary, Robert
(1941 USA embassy in Tokyo) , speaking English:
- "Here and there people were wondering if Roosevelt had provoked the Japanese attack. I don’t think so. Roosevelt had bigger troubles than convincing America to enter a European war. The last thing he needed was one more war on the Pacific Ocean.
"
Normann, Robert
(American naval officer on board Battleship Nevada) , speaking English:
- "To remember Pearl Harbour means to know why our country started war - knowing that we cannot lose.
"