'I wanted to save everybody, but I just couldn't,' recalls one of last Pearl Harbor survivors

TEQUESTA – Harry Chandler had always dreamed of becoming a sailor. He dressed in sailor suits as a child. He dropped out of high school to join the Navy as the second World War revved up, hoping to avoid being drafted instead into the Army.

The Navy welcomed Chandler and by the time he was 20, he was a hospital corpsman, surrounded by the majestic U.S. Pacific Fleet at a base in a slice of paradise: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Seven days into his tropical assignment, that paradise was lost.

Now 102 years old, the Tequesta resident and great-great grandfather is one of the estimated 29 remaining survivors of the attack launched against the U.S. on Dec. 7, 1941. And though it’s been more than 80 years, and Chandler's memory is no longer what it once was, he still recalls with perfect clarity that morning.

He had hoisted the American flag on the lawn at 'Aiea Heights, an area just north of the harbor, when the first Japanese planes flew overhead. He thought they were the home team arriving in Hawaii from the mainland, until the bombs began to rain down.

Pearl Harbor survivor: Working to rescue sailors kept fear at bay

“I saw the Arizona (blow) up…and then I saw the Oklahoma capsizing and Nevada trying to take off into the opening to get out of the harbor," said Chandler. "It was unbelievable. I couldn't understand what was happening until I saw the sunburst on the (plane) wings and I knew we were being attacked by Japan."

The USS Arizona battleship sank minutes after a bomb struck its forward magazine.

Japanese planes wreaked havoc on 19 warships and 300 aircraft and killed more than 2,400 American servicemen in less than 90 minutes, according to the National World War II Museum. Nearly half of the people killed that day were USS Arizona crewmen.

Chandler said his corpsman training kicked in, leaving little room for fear.

“Working and trying to help the sailors who were in the water is what kept us going,” Chandler said. “I was just thinking about helping people. That was my job, and it was what I was trained for.”

But on that day, the job was overwhelming.

“I wanted to save everybody, but I just couldn't. I tried, but I couldn’t.”

What began as rescue and triage then moved to treating the wounded at Naval Mobile Hospital No. 2 — a hospital erected a month earlier when the base hospital at Pearl Harbor filled. Only when the emergency faded and quiet settled was Chandler struck by a rush of fear.

“I realized that I could have been killed or injured, but nothing happened to me,” Chandler said. “I thank the Lord for taking care of me while I was doing all of those things. He didn’t make me scared while I was helping people.”

An aspiring sailor from childhood

The uniform called Chandler early. As a child growing up with three siblings in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Chandler stood out as the one who repeatedly asked his mom to buy him sailor suits. He was so eager to don the uniform that he dropped out of high school and spent the next 38 years in the military — six on active duty. (The high school later issued him an honorary diploma — in 2023.)

Those years of active duty stretched through the war and included stops not only in Pearl Harbor, but in submarine school in Connecticut. His first civilian job was at the propeller parts company Hamilton Standard in Connecticut that most importantly employed Ann, who would become his wife and love of his life for 55 years.

He later went into business with his brother, eventually running Highland Upholstery Company. As so many of his generation do, Chandler eventually moved to South Florida in 2016 and to the Tequesta Terrace senior living facility just over a year ago.

He didn’t tell his family members many details about his experience in Pearl Harbor until just a few months ago. His granddaughter Kelli Fahey, 59, and her husband, Ron Mahaffee, 62, both live in North Palm Beach and get to learn a little more about his life each time they visit him about four times a week. He keeps busy with nine grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and 5 great-great grandchildren.

Pearl Harbor survivor had difficulty seeing memorial through the memories

In December, Chandler returned to Pearl Harbor for the 82nd anniversary. There, he and five other survivors were honored with a parade. While he welcomed the honors, the visit brought back painful memories.

The USS Arizona memorial now sits atop the sunken battleship, and all he saw was the blown-up ship where his colleagues once worked.

"I felt like I was walking on their grave,” said Chandler.

While the memories are difficult, Chandler has remained connected to that past. He is among the thousands of veterans to take an Honor Flight to the war memorials in Washington, D.C. At one point, he joined a local Pearl Harbor Association chapter, but the group eventually disbanded when their numbers fell to only two.

With so few peers left, Chandler focuses on the people around him.

“He is everybody’s Pappy,” Mahaffee said. “People love him at Tequesta Terrace because he's the guy who first walks up to the new resident and gets to know them. He’s got this pull…he just brings people in.”

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: A Navy corpsman recalls Pearl Harbor from home in South Florida