FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- Curt Head remembers Dec. 7, 1941 vividly. The then-20-year-old Navy petty officer second class and his shipmates had just finished breakfast around 8 a.m. and were considering attending a local football game when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
The young boatswain's mate, aboard USS San Francisco, said he and his crew joined neighboring USS New Orleans crew members in firing at Japanese planes.
Head recalls slicing his knife through canvas canopies to free stored guns to use against their enemies. He assisted in clearing the gangway of a broken down milk truck blocking passage.
Though listening to the first bomb drop "was a blast of bad news," Head said living through the war taught him "to see the good in life" since.
Head believes honoring Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day this Monday is important because of the sacrifices military members made during the "day that shall live in infamy." Many World War II veterans are no longer living, leaving the few remaining men and women, like him, to carry on their legacies.
Head continued his service to the nation in the 1942 Guadalcanal campaign. He sustained severe injuries during a battle that November and was later awarded the Purple Heart.
After his military stint, he made contributions to local Army efforts aiding Fort Rucker, Ala., Soldiers. His Ozark home is surrounded by many open acres, and in the 1960s, he allowed student-pilots to land in his fields for training.
Head said he was paid $21 a year for his hospitality, but he didn't do it for the money. After noise complaints from neighbors; however, Head shut down his makeshift landing pads several years later.
Now 88, Head spends his days with his wife of 66 years, Louetta, and their daughters, Barbara Nafzigger and Carolyn Buchanan, visiting recently from Milton-Freewater, Ore., and Clinton, Miss., respectively.
Louetta said his Pearl Harbor experiences helped shape her husband into the man he is today - an extremely proud American.
Her father is a stellar example not only to his family, but to all military members past and present, Nafzigger said.
"He's the perfect example of patriotism and support for his country," she said. Buchanan believes her father's combat adventures formed his character, morals and role as "a perfect father."
Even though rotary aircraft no longer land or take off in his backyard, Head supports today's troops. His advice to Soldiers is to "carry on" and perform their jobs to the best of their abilities. It's the same effort he put in many decades ago during the Pearl Harbor bombing.
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