Pearl Harbor Day Brings Back Memories For Walnut Creek Veteran
WALNUT CREEK (KPIX 5) -- December 7th is a day of remembrance for the many World War II veterans that live in Walnut Creek at the Buena Park Senior Community. One of those interesting folks is Al Giordano.
Giordano was a junior in high school and attending a movie that afternoon when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He clearly remembers that day in 1941. "I got home, I heard on the radio, we had no TV, on the radio I heard we were bombed at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese!" said Giordano. "I thought it was a disaster."
The day after high school graduation, he went to Navy boot camp where he was trained as a ships radioman first class. His ship left the East Coast towing a barge, heading to the Pacific theater. The Germans almost sank their ship. Giordano remembers that close call. "We had German U-Boats, and we had a torpedo that went between the floating dry dock and the ship," he said.
Once in the Pacific, things got worse. His ship helped supply Marines at the beginning of Guadacanal and deliver equipment to North Field Tinian Island, the same island where the Enola Gay was based to deliver the atomic bomb. Giordano took a photo of the plane after it delivered the bomb; a photo now displayed in the Smithsonian Institute.
Giordano has strong feelings about the nuclear bomb. "That bomb saved a million American lives because the next step would have been the invasion of Japan."
The Buena Park Senior Community honors its many vets here with a proud display at the site honoring the men and women who served in WWII and other wars. We are all very proud of their service.