4 Pearl Harbor Survivors Honored At Midway Museum

Paul Goodyear, Ed Vezey, Bill Hendley, Harold Johnson Were Aboard USS Oklahoma During Attack

Posted: 06/08/2012
Last Updated: 348 days ago

Four men who were onboard the USS Oklahoma during the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor were welcomed as heroes at the Midway Museum on Friday.

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Paul Goodyear, Ed Vezey, Bill Hendley and Harold Johnson were on the battleship when it was hit by Japanese torpedoes, and within minutes the ship began to capsize.

"I was four decks below, but I managed to scramble out through the main turret," Johnson said.

Goodyear said the only way he survived was because he was on the signal bridge at the time.

"I saw these guys coming in from the stern and I saw the bomb that hit the [USS] Arizona, but I didn't see the Arizona explode, I was running," Goodyear said.

"I watched it roll over at Pearl," said Al Bodenlos, another Pearl Harbor survivor who met the group at the Midway Museum.

Of the original USS Oklahoma crew, 429 died on December 7, 1941, and of the survivors, only 25 are alive today.

"The reunions are getting smaller and smaller," said Hendley, as the four were treated to a personal tour of the historic ship.

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