MajRichardAnderson

"I wouldn't know about newer ones, I went blind in 1998 when I saw how ugly you (talking about me) were as a baby" "No, I've never minded if someone thanks me or not"

"No, its been a long time. I wasn't at war with Germans, I was at war with the Nazi's"

"I always felt good while flying over the friendly troops, we couldn't always see them because we were up so high, but when we did see them waving at us it felt great"

"Quite a bit different, they don't seem to reason it, like we used to"

"I was at Hickham air field" I don't need a quote about his experience, I've heard that story many times, its a pretty long story so bear with me here. First thing is that the story starts with his childhood in Michigan. His best friend for his life in Michigan was Eugene Whitcomb. Along rolls 1940 and Eugene joins the Navy. Well time passes and Richard is stationed at Hickham and the Arizona makes port at Pearl Harbor. Eugene and Richard go to see a movie and catch up, they see " A yank in the RAF" after the movie they sit on a bench and talk for a bit, then Eugene says "I left in a storm with my parents, And I need you to tell them I'm sorry." Richard responded with "What for, tell them yourself" Eugene let him know that "You're strong, you'll survive a war, I won't" Richard told him that he was wrong, and their night went on. (I was told by Richard that he was actually going to bunk on the Arizona that night but was called to a last minute bunk check.) He woke up to what he believed was a petroleum tank that just accidentally exploded. So he was about to go back to sleep when the planes and gunfire erupted. He ran outside without getting dressed and sat in a bush, watching. He said it was only 2 minutes but it felt like days. He ran back inside and got dressed and ran to his hanger, on the way there he ran through a mess hall, people were crowding into the freezer and as he made it out of the mess hall, a bomb hit the freezer. He got to his hanger and took a .45 and just shot at the planes "We knew it wouldn't make a difference, but it helped us mentally" there was a fighter plane trying to get airborne that got destroyed and Richard stepped on a magnesium flare that burned through his boot while pulling the pilot out of the cockpit. After the attack he went to the med bay to get treatment for his foot, but he just took ointment and left after seeing the rest of the people that were there. After not seeing Eugene among the wounded, he knew what happened.