By Hector Flores
Barbosa, a member of East Meadow¹s Veterans of Foreign War Post 2736, attended the event with his family and fellow post members. During the ceremony, he was singled out as the post¹s only member to have survived the attack on Pear Harbor, and was presented with a medallion. At the conclusion of the ceremony, vintage aircraft took off from the airport to drop 65 roses over the Statue of Liberty, one for each of the years that have past since the attack by the Japanese. For Barbosa, however, the events of that day are still burned vividly into his memory.
On Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941, at around 8 a.m., Barbosa, a Navy gunner¹s mate aboard the USS Raleigh, which was stationed at Pearl Harbor¹s Ford Island, was finishing breakfast when he heard a commotion. ³One of our capital ships, and the biggest ships, were being bombed,² he recalled.
The Raleigh, a light cruiser, was docked on the north side of Ford Island. In front of it was another light cruiser, the Detroit, and behind them was the Utah, an older ship. ³I was 17 at the time,² Barbosa said during an interview at his home in East Meadow. ³We went to our gun stations. We had six-inch main batteries, and I started firing at anything within 3,000 yards. We opened fire not knowing if we hit any planes, but don¹t worry, they were all over the place.²
Barbosa remembers shaking during the attack, but once he was firing, all he was thinking about was loading his weapon and firing. ³I didn¹t have time to think about being afraid,² he said.
When the second wave of Japanese fighters flew through the harbor, Barbosa said, they dropped their bombs and flew away. As far as he remembers, the second wave came within an hour after the first. ³As for shots,² he said, ³it was hard to tell how many times I fired, but I do remember that in the Utah, 37 men got killed, but the rest got saved.²
As for the Raleigh, the cruiser was both bombed and torpedoed, but not sunk. ³There was a bomb that had landed and went through the hull and exploded outside in the water," Barbosa recalled. "Then there was the torpedo that hit the portside.²
Today, Barbosa can¹t remember how many ³guys² were hurt. All he was thinking about was saving his ship and keeping it afloat. After the attack, he remembers many of his fellow seamen looking to see if any of their friends had been hit. ³After the attack, many of us had the shakes,² he said, looking down at his hands.
Now, with another anniversary of the attack come and gone, Barbosa thinks only about the good times he had with his friends. ³There was a lot of stuff we don¹t talk about or aren¹t allowed to talk about,² he said. ³There were so many things that happened to us. If you were a boy, you became a man that day."
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
