Pearl Harbor survivors and World War II veterans are gathering in Hawaii this week to remember those killed in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack.
Pearl Harbor survivor and World War II Navy veteran David Russell, 101, poses for a press photo along with a painting of the USS Oklahoma at his home on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021, in Albany, Ore.
Within 12 minutes his battleship would capsize under a barrage of torpedoes. Altogether 429 sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma would perish — the greatest death toll from any ship that day other than the USS Arizona, which lost 1,177. Russell is traveling to Hawaii with the Best Defense Foundation, a nonprofit founded by former NFL Linebacker Donnie Edwards that helps World War II veterans revisit their old battlefields.
Once he got to the main deck, he crawled over the ship's side and eyed the USS Maryland moored next door. He didn't want to swim because leaked oil was burning in the water below. Jumping, he caught a rope hanging from the Maryland and escaped to that battleship without injury.After the battle, Russell and two others went to Ford Island, next to where the battleships were moored, in search of a bathroom.