AMESBURY — For 67 years Robert Antell has relived a day reserved for most as a chapter in a history book, or better known as the day that Franklin D. Roosevelt established will forever live in infamy.
He still remembers the smell of smoke and rumbling of bombs waking him from his bunk on Dec. 7, 1941. Confusion and disbelief are the only way he can describe his first thoughts.
Before jumping from his bunk that fateful morning, he was certain it was all a mistake. That is until he saw the battleships Arizona and Oklahoma sinking.
"I am proud that I was there," Antell said, reflecting on the day when over 2,000 Americans died in the Japanese empire's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Antell estimates it took almost 20 years for the public to begin hunting him down for his account of surviving the attack on Pearl Harbor. Over half a decade after the bombing, he has not stopped speaking since.
He has spoken at statehouses, to classrooms full of children, reunion ceremonies and at well over a hundred memorial programs. Reunion speeches have taken him everywhere from San Diego, to Las Vegas and New Orleans. With only three local survivors still alive, Antell said he has seen an increase in demand for his clear memories.
"The more the years go on, the more interested people have become," Antell said
Locally, Bernard Thompson of Merrimac and Sam Deseo of East Hampstead, N.H., are the only other Pearl Harbor survivors. At 88 years old, Antell said he is happy being one of the last survivors in the area. "It means that I'm alive," Antell said. "People wanting to hear me speak means I still have my memory."
As the anniversary quickly approaches, his schedule has gone into overdrive. Yesterday Antell attended the second annual Veteran's Appreciation Event hosted by state Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen.
"I was honored to speak at the event last year," Antell said. "I was waiting for the senator to tell me I had been speaking for too long. There's just so much to say."
Local Newburyport Veterans Agent Kevin Hunt attended the regionwide event yesterday.
"Trying to keep the memory of Pearl Harbor alive is essential because it was such a shocking incident at the time and still reverberates today," Hunt said.
Hunt said there are about 218 World War II veterans and families in the Newburyport area with about 100 World War II survivors passing away a day across the United States.
For Antell the anniversary day of Dec. 7 is a time of tradition. Every year he visits the AMVETS Hall Post 147 Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony which includes a service inside, wreath blessing and firing squad salute.
The ceremony is run by Amesbury resident Lillian J. Eaton, a former member of the Navy WAVES. With over 40 years of volunteering for the veterans community under her belt, Eaton believes Pearl Harbor is not something that should be forgotten.
"It was the beginning of World War II, and we have to remember and honor those men that lost their lives at Pearl Harbor and the few that are left," Eaton said.
To others it is a piece of history, but to Antell it is a vivid memory unscathed by his age.
'I think about it all the time," Antell said. "Every day I close my eyes and I am there. I can see it like it was yesterday."
One thing the experienced speaker takes pride in is never preparing a speech beforehand.
"I like talking my baloney," Antell said. "If someone is willing to listen, I will speak."
