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John Alicki

                                       REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR

Sneak attack changed his life.

Today John Alicki lives in a round house surrounded by oriental gardens, a quite stream and seclusion.  He can hear you coming.

Sixty three years ago at Pearl Harbor, he heard the warplanes coming from so far away.  John Alicki depending how you might view his experience was either in the right place at the right time or the worst time in history.

Either way, John holds no regrets that he was just about to enter a church overlooking Pearl Harbor when more than 350 Japanese bombers began their surprise attack from the air on December 7, 1941.

He was packed and ready to board a ship to go home to the United States the next day.

John had already spent more than six years in the armed forces and he was ready to get out.  But 10 months later in October, 1942, John was still at Pearl Harbor and for the next 15 years he continued active service to his country.

Later in World War II, John also fought against Nazi Germany as a Paratrooper with the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team. He also fought in the  Korean conflict in the early 1950s.

During his military career he collected some 18 medals and citations including the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medal.

The fact he was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, l94l, is recorded on his official 1957 honorable discharge from the U.S. Army as a Major.

"This sneak attack changed my entire life," he said in a recent interview at his two -story house on the base of Hibriten Mountain.  "After that, nobody could tell me what was going to happen to me…except that I was in for the duration."

On December 7, John was a U.S. Army sergeant in the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade.  On the day of the infamous attack, which brought American military forces into World War II, John had made special arrangements to attend church service with some of his men in the outfit, and some Hawaiian native friends.

"It just so happened that on that Sunday morning they got me up a little early and held me to my promise to go to church.  While we were entering the church just before 8 a.m. we heard something in the distance like firecrackers.  As we went into the church the sound became more audible.  Then we could see planes overhead.
They had to pass over us to to get their bombs to the ships.  It so happened we had a colonel in the church and he said, 'wait a minute'. Dhe got up and went out, came back and said, 'We are under a Japanese attack.  You men in the church get back to your stations'.  The explosions started shaking the church.

"When I stepped out of the church I could see the red disk emblem on the side of the planes", John said.  "From were the church was, you could see the whole harbor.  To me, it seems like it was only yesterday."

"On December 7, 1941, I was just a kid, 23 years old and still wet behind his ears and learning about life, and here I am today.  I'm thankful to the Almighty to be here."

The Japanese attack lasted for two hours and came in two waves of aircraft about an hour apart, pounding United States ships and installations at Pearl Harbor.  The best of America's fleet was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

When it was over, 21 ships were sunk or destroyed, 2,403 military personnel were dead and another 1,178 wounded.  The entire event is widely accepted as America's single worst military defeat in peacetime.

Of the dead, some 1,177 went down with the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor on that Sunday morning, according to official statistics with the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association (PHSA).  The PHSA motto is " Remember Pearl Harbor-Keep  America Alert."

The PHSA has a current membership of 12,197 Americans who were present on that day in December 1941.

Now that 63 years have gone by, John holds no resentment toward the Japanese people.  "As you can see I am influenced by the oriental people.  The Japanese have as much feeling as we have.  A lot of them have the same regrets we have. " I feel that we need to let the Japanese know that we are truly and sincerely their friends and this silent animosity has to be completely done away with.  Then we can get along and live in peace.  We have to let them know the past is the past and let's not forget it.

Note:  With some modification credit for this article goes to the Lenoir News Topic of Lenoir, NC