California Pearl Harbor Survivor Joe Feld Remembers That Day-- Part 1

From the December 6, 2019, Nevada County, Ca. Union "Norris Burkes:  Grass Valley Pearl Harbor survivor Joe Feld remembers the Day of Infamy."

"My name is Joe Feld.   My name is one of the few things I remember,"  chuckles Joe Feld.

But he remembers a whole lot more than that.  He is one of 15 patients Norris Burkes visits at the Hospice of the Foot Hills, Grass Valley.

He joined the Navy in 1939.  After boot camp in San Diego, he was assigned to the brand new aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, "The Big E."

Joe Feld was a metalsmith who fixed everything broken on aircraft except the engine.  After that, he spent 18 months cruising the Pacific Ocean between San Diego and Hawaii.  In late November, he and 30 other metalsmiths were sent ashore in earl harbor to fix land-based planes.  The Enterprise returned to sea.

On December 7, 1941, just a few hours before the Enterprise was  to return to Pearl Harbor, he heard an explosion outside his barracks and thought that a plane had crashed.  "I looked out the window to see Japanese planes strafing the airfield.  I was close enough to see the red circle on the plane."

--GreGen