Oldest Pearl Harbour survivor keeps memory alive at 106

On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the nation’s oldest survivor of the Japanese bombing was deep below deck helping repair one of the USS St Louis’ boilers.

Freeman Johnson, who turned 106 in March, never witnessed the surprise attack.

He never heard of his shipmates firing anti-aircraft guns at attacking planes or shooting down a torpedo plane.

By the time she came up, the light cruiser St Louis had evaded the small submarines and was safely out to sea.

“I was in a steam drum while all this was going on upstream. I couldn’t see anything, absolutely nothing,” said Johnson, who lives in Centreville, Massachusetts.

The living room is filled with memorabilia and photos of his Navy service, including photos of St. Louis and him as a young sailor, and a collection of Navy challenge coins and ribbons representing places he visited.

He still carries his military ID tag, popularly known as a dog tag.

Even as the St. Louis headed toward the Pacific Ocean, Johnson, whose job on the ship was known as a firefighter, had little knowledge of the attack.

“We were so far out to sea, so far away. You couldn’t see any land. All you saw was the ocean,” he said.

“I was just a sailor, just a swabbie, not an officer. They don’t tell you anything if you don’t need to know. I didn’t need to know that either. That’s why they don’t tell you anything.”

When he visited schools, children often asked Johnson if he was afraid that day.

“You’re not afraid. You’re too busy to be afraid,” he said, his harsh voice rising.

“Besides, you don’t know what you’re afraid of. You can’t see anything. What are you afraid of?”

Johnson became the oldest survivor after World War II Navy veteran Ira “Ike” Schab died in December. He was 105 years old.

With Schab’s passing and Clarence Lane’s death in February at the age of 100, only 11 people survived the surprise attack that killed more than 2,400 soldiers and plunged the United States into war.

The United States mourns the nation’s fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, which takes place on Monday.

A memorial ceremony for Pearl Harbor survivors is held every year on the beach at the military base.

The 50th anniversary event in 1991 was attended by approximately 2,000 survivors.

Several dozen have appeared in recent years.

Only two people have achieved this in 2024. That’s out of the estimated 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu that day. None of them made the pilgrimage to Hawaii last year.

Johnson avoided the spotlight for most of his life and spoke little about surviving the bombing.

But as the oldest survivor, he became a local celebrity and the reluctant face of one of the most important events of World War II.

Johnson attended his 106th birthday party in a limousine and was mobbed by television cameras. He receives letters from all over the world and is routinely called a hero wherever he goes.

Hard of hearing, needing a walker to get around, and suffering from congestive heart failure, Johnson can recall his wartime experience in minute detail.

Johnson, 19, who is unemployed and living at home in Waltham, said he was afraid of being drafted so he signed up for the Navy because he felt it would be less physically taxing than the Army.

“I walked when I was a kid. If I wanted to go somewhere, I walked or biked. But I didn’t want to walk from France to Germany,” he said, sitting in a recliner, wearing a loose flannel shirt and waving his hands like a conductor.

“Carrying a backpack with you is a long way… A day’s worth of water, a day’s food, a nine-pound Springfield rifle on your back, and walking through mud,” he said.

“No thanks. That’s why I joined the Navy.”

Johnson’s memories are less about the battles fought aboard St. Louis and later while aboard the USS Iowa than their important role in history.

He helped launch the Iowa into service and recalled the battleship’s preparations in November 1943 before President Franklin D. Roosevelt was transported to the Tehran Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

The ship was equipped with two elevators and a bathtub.

All ammunition and much of the oil were removed to lighten the ship as it proceeded down the Potomac River to pick up Roosevelt.

The ship was reloaded before setting out to sea.

“It was a big meeting,” said Johnson, recalling how the crew was photographed with Roosevelt.

“I don’t know what they were talking about, but I didn’t need to know. We got him back, brought him home.”

Johnson also witnessed the end of the war in Iowa. On September 2, 1945, he was at Iowa’s mast, about a mile away, watching the surrender ceremonies in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri.

“I could see boats with sailors escorting the Japanese to the ship and sitting around a table,” he said.

“It was over. This was the end of the war. We got together as a group; the war was over. Let’s go home.”

These days, her daughter, Diane Johnson, is often with her.

They live together and always take a trip on December 7, often attending Pearl Harbor commemoration events, including the 65th and 80th anniversaries in Hawaii.

She often asks questions to get her father to talk and enjoys nagging him, telling him that it is his “responsibility” to share the story of Pearl Harbor, especially with children who know little about the bombing.

“It’s a little overwhelming when you think about it. What gets me is 106,” he said.

“When I think about your past, when you witness the surrender, at the beginning, in the middle, at the end. That’s something.”

Johnson began to gain more attention a few years ago when Diane Johnson heard a local television report claiming the state’s last survivor had died.

He called to set the record straight, and it raised his profile. Johnson also began appearing regularly in the Cape Cod St. Patrick’s Parade, often leading from the front.

Desmond Keogh, chairman of the parade who accompanied Johnson, said: “I wish there were more people like him today. He just goes on and doesn’t complain about anything.”

“That’s what this country is all about. They were just a different generation. They did what was best for their country.”

Despite all the attention on Pearl Harbor, the gruff Johnson, known for his cackling laugh and mischievous smile, doesn’t see it as a defining moment in his life.

This meant marrying his late wife after the war and having three daughters.

He also worked for years in a machinist shop, then a grocery store, and finally delivering meals to the elderly; He retired from all jobs, the last one at the age of 90.

“Pearl Harbor just happened. I can’t put it any other way,” he said.

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