It was a beautiful day, sunny and clear. The scent of hibiscus filled the morning air. Corporal George Sawyers had just finished field exercises at Hickam Field Air Force Base at Pearl Harbor and was making his way to the mess hall for Sunday breakfast.

“I heard a bunch of planes, I thought it was the Navy doing field training,” said Sawyers. “Then I heard explosions.”

Sawyers, along with most of the men in the mess hall, ran outside.

“It was a beautiful clear day,” said Sawyers. “I could see the planes overhead with the rising sun on them. We had no place to hide. There were no bunkers or foxholes.”

Sawyers and his friend ran to get weapons. His friend set up a machine gun and started firing at the planes, he was hit by enemy fire and killed.

Sawyers hid under a building on the base but felt he needed to move. He ran across the grounds to hide elsewhere just in time to watch the building he had been under be struck and demolished.

“We didn’t have time to be scared,” said Sawyers. “It happened so fast, we were just trying to stay alive. After the fact is when it bothers you.”

When the attack was over, Sawyers ran to the aid of his fellow men.

“There were bodies everywhere,” said Sawyers. “I just helped anyone I could for the rest of the day. There were 483 killed at Hickam that day. It was a day I thought would never end.”

Sawyers was on aviation ordinance at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor and after the attack was sent to Wake Island to refit guns with new ammunition. Shortly after Sawyers left Wake Island, Japan took possession of it.

Sawyers was stationed at Hickam Field Air Force Base until 1945 when he was honorably discharged holding the rank of Sergeant.

Sawyers was married with children when he was called back into the Army in 1950 for the Korean War. He served six months at Fort Bliss in Texas during that war before being sent home to West Virginia.

Sawyers joined the Army Air Force in 1941, due to lack of jobs as a result of the depression.

“There were no jobs in West Virginia, and I had no money to go to college,” said Sawyers.

Sawyers, 85, moved to Maine more than 10 years ago and settled in the Standish area to be close to his daughter who lives in Hiram. Although he does not want to participate in Veterans Day activities, he still believes it is an important day.

“I don’t think I am hero because I survived Pearl Harbor,” said Sawyers. “I don’t think I need to tell people I am important or did something great. Veterans Day is a time to remember and honor all of those veterans that died in all the wars. So that is what I do at home.”

Vietnam Veteran discusses change

Entrepreneur and Naples resident Allen Toole, 62, joined the Army in 1967 during the Vietnam War.

“No one wanted to go to Vietnam,” said Toole, “But there were no jobs around so I enlisted to go to Officer Candidate School in the Army.”

Toole did 10 months of training knowing at the end of school being sent to Vietnam was a real possibility for him.

“You know that your first year in officer training will be spent in the U.S.,” said Toole. “Your second year you will be sent overseas.”

There were 100 students in Toole’s class, 88 would be sent to Vietnam and 12 would be sent elsewhere. Toole was one of the lucky 12 sent elsewhere.

“If I had been on that list I would have gone to Vietnam,” said Toole. “Instead, I was sent to South Korea.”

When 1st Lt. Toole came home to the states he disembarked in Florida to find people filled with hate for American soldiers.

“I got off the plane, and this woman spit on me,” said Toole. “It was a different time, people just did not respect servicemen then.”

Toole ended his Army career in 1970 and moved to Maine shortly after. He is a charter member of the VFW in Naples but does not celebrate Veterans Day.

“It is just another day to me,” said Toole. “This year I will be traveling on Veterans Day.”

Although he does not celebrate it, he is glad veterans today are treated well.

“It is amazing to me how much more respect people treat veterans with today,” said Toole. “It is very different from the treatment in the 1960s and ’70s.”