National Geographic puts Pearl Harbor stories on Web

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Clark O'Hagan hid under a desk in an air base hangar as "all hell broke loose" outside in Pearl Harbor. Henry Evans wrote home about the Japanese, "We will make them sorry they ever heard of the United States."

Their stories are included in the National Geographic Society's latest project, which uses a nontraditional format — the Internet — for telling war tales. Across the country, aging veterans or their relatives are sitting down at computers to compose recollections of Dec. 7, 1941.

Hundreds of people have responded so far to the request for e-mail stories "so that future generations might not forget" Pearl Harbor. There's resurging interest with the upcoming 60th anniversary and next month's release of Disney's film, "Pearl Harbor."

One veteran recruited by the society, 84-year-old Russell Keetz of St. Paul, Minn., said, "They're realizing there aren't many of us World War II veterans left. Otherwise, there will be nobody to tell their story."

Keetz, who was a firefighter aboard the USS Ward, said too many young people are unaware of the 360-plane Japanese attack that destroyed or heavily damaged 21 ships and 323 aircraft, while killing 2,388 people and wounding 1,178.

The online memory book will be available Tuesday and will have a searchable database for friends to find each other. People who submit stories will have their e-mail addresses listed.

National Geographic is also planning a Pearl Harbor TV special on May 27 and two books on Pearl Harbor are being released.

A map of Pearl Harbor will be available on the National Geographic Web site. It shows where ships were at the time of the attack and includes a step-by-step look at the bombings, complete with sound effects.