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1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW More than 60 cartons of cigarettes stolen in recent Medford burglaries ... Medical marijuana growers in Jackson County fly under radar ... With the pot grows come the gripes: County already fielding complaints ... More than 60 cartons of cigarettes stolen in recent Medford burglaries ... Medical marijuana growers in Jackson County fly under radar ... With the pot grows come the gripes: County already fielding complaints ... Pearl Harbor survivor: 'I still think about it' Army vet recalls in detail the horrific Japanese attack Army Pvt. Wes Harder planned to sleep in that balmy morning 69 years ago today. Comment By Paul Fattig MailTribune.com By Paul Fattig Posted Dec. 7, 2010 at 2:00 AM Updated Dec 8, 2010 at 4:01 PM By Paul Fattig Posted Dec. 7, 2010 at 2:00 AM Updated Dec 8, 2010 at 4:01 PM » Social News Army Pvt. Wes Harder planned to sleep in that balmy morning 69 years ago today. Later, he thought, he might head into town on liberty or stroll leisurely down to the beach for a swim. "But all of a sudden they started firing the anti-aircraft guns and this stuff started dropping on the tin roof right across from our barracks," he recalled. "It sounded terrible. I thought, 'Why in the hell are they doing this on Sunday morning?' "It was my day off — I just wanted to sleep in," added Harder, now 88, of Central Point. The young soldier would not be sleeping in very often for the next four years. It was 7 a.m., Dec. 7, 1941. A surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii drew the United States into World War II. When the black smoke boiling up from Pearl Harbor finally cleared, some 2,400 American servicemen would be dead and the U.S. Pacific Fleet badly crippled. "It was so unexpected," Harder said. "You didn't know what to think. Nobody knew what was going on." He and other soldiers stationed at Fort Shafter some four miles from the harbor jumped out of their bunks, pulled on their pants and T-shirts and sprinted to the armory. "We grabbed our rifles — we all had our assigned World War I rifles," he said of the bolt-action 1903 Springfield .30-06 rifles. "I got my rifle, some bandoleers of ammunition and a pistol." The problem, the Oregon native will tell you, is while a .30-06 might be good for hunting deer, it's not much use in repulsing an airborne attack. "There was nothing we could really do with our rifles," he said. "There was all this smoke and the fires and the noise. They started bringing bodies into the hospital across the street from us, just stacking them up." Believing that a land invasion was imminent, the U.S. military command ordered troops to prepare for a beachhead landing. "We went out and put barbed wire across the beaches," he said. "They thought there would be an invasion. We were awake for days afterwards." Huge searchlights probed the dark sky each night, he said. "I still think about it — you can't help it," he said of the anniversary. Born in Albany, he had joined the Army in January of that year. He turned 19 in Oahu. "I was getting $21 a month," he recalled. "It wasn't much but it was enough to get by." Harder spent more than two decades in the Army, becoming a "mustang" who rose from private to first lieutenant. During that time he traveled much of the world, from Asia to Europe. He would also meet a fellow G.I. named Alice, now his wife of 64 years. Although he had been in the Army for less than a year when Pearl Harbor was bombed, he had already been trained in artillery and as a cook. After the war started, he reported to work in the G-2 section, the Army's parlance for military intelligence. "They were building a new underground forward echelon in a crater about five miles from Fort Shafter," he said. "They had started it before the war started." He would receive a top secret clearance to work in the underground bunker. "Anything that happened in the Pacific Ocean, we knew about," he said, noting he worked on the operations table. "It was a 24-hour-a-day operation." Some of his military experiences were lighthearted, like the time a Life magazine photographer took a photograph of him and a security dog for the August 1942 edition of the magazine. Named Questor, the dog ran off in mid-shoot. Unfortunately, it was owned by a general, causing the young soldier more than a little consternation. "It took hours to find that dog," Harder said. The soldier would be awarded a Soldier's Medal for heroism after saving a drowning soldier on Dec. 28, 1944, at Telegrafo off the island of Leyte in the Philippines. A citation for the medal indicates that then-Tech. Sgt. Harder, already exhausted from swimming to shore, re-entered the water and rescued the drowning man. "I got to him when he was starting sink," he said. "I got him in as far as I could, and by then another guy was there to help." That was shortly after the arrival of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who led the attack to recapture the Philippine Islands from the Japanese. "We were already on the beach when he landed," he said. "Pearl Harbor was bad, but I think the beachhead landing in the Philippines was worse. "It made me a believer that we should be involved in no war unless our nation is attacked like we were at Pearl," he added. "All these political wars are crap. I'm a peace guy now." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected]. Correction: Wes Harder's name was spelled wrong in the photo caption. It has been corrected. By Paul Fattig MailTribune.com By Paul Fattig Posted Dec. 7, 2010 at 2:00 AM Updated Dec 8, 2010 at 4:01 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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