"THIS IS NO DRILL"

The bos'wain whistle screeched followed by "Man your battle stations. Jap planes attacking. Break out service ammunition. This is no drill."
This is what happened on the light cruiser USS Helena (CL50) at Dock 1010 in Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941. Three minutes later, at 7:58 a.m., a violent explosion rocked the Helena, crippling her and the minelayer Oglala beside her as an aerial torpedo smashed into the ship's forward engine room, killing 33 of my shipmates.
The Helena's gun crews swung into action promptly, shooting down seven of the 29 Jap planes downed during the attack with blistering fire of the gun crews making more Jap planes avert the area.
The American casualties included 2,390 killed in just two hours, 15 minutes. To reach the 2,390 killed in the Iraq War took four years.
Twenty-one ships were sunk or severely damaged including 7 of 8 battleships. Of 394 aircraft, 188 were destroyed and 159 damaged during the attack. This was a "Day of Infamy" as declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
No cell phones or E-mails were available in 1941. So, my brother, Walter J. Borucki, 19, thought I was killed when his ship the destroyer USS INGRAHAM (DD444) was sunk in a convoy in the North Atlantic on August, 1942.
More than 4000,000 Americans were killed during World War II. Pearl Harbor survivors are an endangered species now, with all of them in their eighties or nineties now.
I once had a dozen Helena shipmates in Western Massachusetts. All 12 have reported to the Supreme Commander.
Pearl Harbor Attack Veterans left in the area include Augie Woicekoski of Northhampton, Joseph Mieleszko of Hatfield, Gene Galusks of Granby, Charles Lockhart of East Longmeadow, Edward Borucki of Southhampton, Robert Greenleaf and Dominic Grimaldi of Westfield and Lena Gordon and Herb Goeldner at the Holyoke Soldiers Home.
Let's remember Pearl Harbor as we go to meet the foe.
Let's remember Pearl Harbor as we did the Alamo.
We will always remember how they died for liberty.
Let's remember Pearl Harbor and go on to victory.

Edward F. Borucki
187 East St.
Southhampton, MA 01073
Tel (413) 527-0033