“ … December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan …”

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke those words on Dec. 8, 1941, America was a nation reeling from one of the most deadly surprise attacks in U.S. history. At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes attacked the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor. The assault lasted less than two hours but claimed the lives of more than 2,400 people, wounded 1,000 more and damaged or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 planes.

Though it is a day that lives in infamy for all Americans, it lives on in a more visceral way for some.

Oklahoma resident Paul Branson was there. The 94-year-old veteran was on the U.S.S. Arizona the night before the attack. He visited and ate with some friends on the soon-to-be sunken Pacific flagship and went to sleep at a nearby Marine camp between Battleship Row and Hickum Field.

The next day, he watched the Arizona — a ship he’d called home for more than two years — slip into the sea with his own eyes. But before that, he fired some shots of his own.

“We were camped in tents on the parade ground of the Marine base right behind Hickum Field. I was getting ready to go hunting Sunday morning,” he said. “I saw the first plane come over the Poly. I saw the first bombs come out. So, I grabbed that BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) and had my loader. He and I were good friends. As soon as we got halfway within range, we started shooting.

With his loader and close friend, Ernest Howell, at his side, they fired at anything with a Japanese flag on it.

“When I’d get rid of one of those clips, he’d have another one loaded and ready,” Branson said.

He wasn’t concerned with whether he could hit anything. He said it was instinct.

“I didn’t think about that,” he said. “I was doing my best to hit anything that I could, leading them properly like I would a quail or a duck. I was just squeezing off whatever rounds I could and hoped for the best. But believe me, I was trying.”

Firing a rifle at Japanese Zeros like he was hunting quail, the self-described top rifleman and skilled hunter managed to bring one down.

“I watched it to the last. I saw the Arizona blow up. I did a lot of shooting at the planes as they came around,” he said. “I can’t say I hit anything except that one last plane.”

He said that plane came too close, spraying fire at him and his fiercely fighting friends.

“I said, ‘This one’s coming in low.’ He was only about 50 yards away, and you don’t lead much at 50 yards. Matter of fact, you don’t lead anything. But he turned up on edge to let his rear gunner have a shot at us and, boy, we could see him plain. He swung those guns at us and we all turned loose on him. We shot him down and he crashed over there behind the hospital.”

After the plane went down, Branson said some of his men went over and collected grisly souvenirs: The pilot’s scalp and a piece of his skull. Branson said everyone was so shocked, so angry. There was no mistaking it. Him and his men, everyone knew America was at war.

“I saw a lot because I was in the center between the two. I could see what was going on. Ships being blown up and they bombed Hickum Field … All the planes parked out there on the runway, not one got off the ground. They got ‘em all … Damn right, they were ready to go,” he said. “We were teed off. It was what I would call dirty pool. No warning, no nothing. Well, we had no choice.”

Branson served in the Pacific Theater as a Marine in the 1st Division A Company 2nd Battalion. He fought from island to island and in key battles like Guadalcanal. All told, after joining the service in 1938, he served for six years, 9 months and 21 days.

“I wouldn’t take a million dollars for the experience, but I wouldn’t give you too much to live them over again,” he said. “We had some close calls. It was the war. We worked at it and we were sincere in what we were doing.”

After the war, Branson worked as an Arizona Ranger, later moving to Oklahoma where he worked for AT&T and retired as a tool and dye maker. He served as the president and state chairman of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association of Oklahoma. During those meetings he said he sometimes “jokes with the fellas” about his strange birthday present.

“My birthday is two days after Pearl Harbor,” he said. “Dec. 9, I’ll be 95 years old. I kid these guys once in a while and say, ‘Look what I had for a birthday present.’ That’s some birthday present.”

He keeps a sense of humor about some of it and said he doesn’t like to dwell too much. Though he said his memory has faded some, there are some things he can’t forget, and some, 74 years later, that still aren’t forgiven.

“My memory sometimes skips. Sometimes I can’t remember anything and sometimes I can’t forget anything,” he said. “They say they forgive them, but it’s not up to us to forgive them. If they want to be forgiven, they’ll have to go and ask God to forgive them. I’m still teed off.”

Burke writes for The Norman (Oklahoma) Transcript