It's easy to imagine that Daniel Fruchtman tells stories today with the same energy he did when he was a kid, fresh in the Army, and stationed at Hawaii in 1941, just months prior to Japan's attack.
As a corporal he later earned a battlefield commission to lieutenant on Guadalcanal, fighting beside the Marines. Not many Army soldiers can claim they fought with Marines on Guadalcanal, and Fruchtman claims to have worked beside one of the most famous Marines of all.
Check back with us on the anniversary to see who it was; until then, hear his thoughts on that fateful day, 71 years ago, when Japanese planes could be heard buzzing above him:
Produced by Daniel Goodman and Geoffrey Ingersoll
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