Many who witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor are now spread across the nation.
Salome Sato, a woman living at the Rogue Valley Manor, saw the entire attack.
She was born and raised in Honolulu and says she will never forget Pearl Harbor.
75 years feels like yesterday for Sato.
“Oh, it’s vivid… you don’t forget those things,” Sato said.
Sato was only 5 years old when she witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor.
She was eating breakfast with her family when they suddenly heard many loud noises outside.
“We looked up and we saw all these planes,” Sato said.
Sato says planes would often do practice runs during that time, but this time, she knew it was different.
And then… they heard a loud bang.
America had been attacked.
It’s something that haunts her to this day.
“Thunder and lightning scares me… because again it brings back the memory of something frightening happening that you have no control over,” Sato said.
Sato and her family huddled next to the radio as the attack played out.
She thought her family would die that day.
They didn’t, but still lived in fear.
In fact, Sato had to bring a gas mask to school.
“I thought it was smelly and rubbery and it was frightening to wear as a little kid,” Sato said.
Her dad also built a bomb shelter underneath her driveway.
“I guess we were lucky because they didn’t come back and attack again another day,” Sato said.
Now, 75 years later, she still remembers the devastation of the war.
Sato moved from Hawaii to the Rogue Valley Manor nearly a year ago, and she says she loves Oregon so far.
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