By Jennifer Rice
Managing Editor
After a ball game on Friday, two days before the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Auroran Milton Card ran into his hometown buddy, Eugene Fitzsimmons.
Neither man knew the other was stationed at Pearl Harbor, but happy to be re-acquainted, they agreed to go ashore on Sunday, Dec. 7, after Fitzsimmons got off duty at 4 p.m.
They never met up and they never saw each other again.
On Sunday morning, the Imperial Japanese Navy executed a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, which consisted of two waves. It took the lives of 2,402 military men and women and wounded another 1,282.
Fitzsimmons was aboard the USS Arizona, which sank during the attack, killing 1,102 of the 1,177 manned crew. Card recalls seeing the battleship sink into the bay and remembers saying, ‘Oh, man,’ because he knew his friend was aboard.
“He was an electrician and I figured he was below deck, on duty,” Card said. “That must have been a hell of a horrible death. They did their day in hell. I think they ascended straight into Heaven.”
Card and six other Pearl Harbor survivors were honored Monday during the 42nd Annual Pearl Harbor Day Memorial Luncheon presented by the Navy League of the United States Aurora Council and the Rotary Club of Aurora.
This week marks the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, an anniversary Card can’t believe. “That was such a long time ago,” he commented. It’s gratifying for him to come every year, (missing only one, due to back surgery). He doesn’t so much care for the publicity, but he understands it’s an honor to be a survivor and to attend the event.
“This is put on every year, and it helps the younger people know what Pearl Harbor was all about. A lot of them don’t know what Pearl Harbor is,” he said.
Along with Card, other survivors honored at the event included Tom Decker, George Hettinger, John Terrell, Joe Triolo and Clarence Wills. Survivor Ed Block was unable to attend.
Keynote speaker Rear Adm. David F. Steindl, Commander, Naval Service Training Command, headquartered at Naval Station Great Lakes said that none of the men and women at Pearl Harbor knew their fate. Yet on Dec. 7, 1941, they awoke and rose to the challenges that morning.
“You fought fires and flooding. You administered aid to the wounded and you fought against our nation’s enemy,” Steindl explained. “You did heroic things that day and continue to do so, over the last seven decades.”
He talked about Pearl Harbor survivors’ valor, character and their ability to unite for a common cause. These are words Card let’s roll off his shoulder. “I was just very lucky that day,” he contends.
He recalls seeing two bombs on the port side for the ship miss their mark by 20 feet. “If they would of hit, I wouldn’t be talking to you now,” he said.
After the last Japanese attack, Card was going to volunteer with three of his friends to go fight fires on the USS Pennsylvania, which was in dry dock. As they were about to leave their ship — the USS Tracy, the captain instructed Card to stay aboard.
“He said, ‘You’re a cook and you’re qualified on that .50-caliber as a loader, get back aboard ship.’ So I stayed,” Card recalled.
While his three friends were aboard the USS Pennsylvania, fires reached ammunition lockers and ignited, killing them. Of the three, all that was found was one man’s dog tags and a piece of material from another man’s shorts, with his name on it: John Pence.
“Pence was my double. We had the same features, same kind of hair. Some thought we were brothers,” Card said. “I guess my double was killed and I survived.”

Jennifer Rice’s e-mail address is Jen@foxvalleylabornews.com.