Veteran, 103, retains vivid memories of Pearl Harbor attack

 

                                                                                    PHOTO BY DANIELLA SEGURA

REDONDO BEACH

Joe Eskenazi says ‘the Lord saved me again’ on that fateful day in Hawaii.

By Daniela Segura

Correspondent, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Though it’s been 80 years, 103-year-old Joe Eskenazi can still feel the percussion from the Japanese torpedo bombers dropping bombs on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

The then-23-year-old Army private first class was asleep at Schofield Barracks, about 20 miles inland from the seaside base, when the first Japanese bomber appeared in the sky at 7:55 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941.

“It was a beautiful day, very sunny, very beautiful. But what woke us up was the bombings that was taking place at Pearl Harbor,” Eskenazi, who will turn 104 on Jan. 30, said. “I jumped out of bed. I said, ‘I know we’re being attacked. We’re at war with Japan and that’s what’s happening.’ ” Eskenazi, a Redondo Beach resident, shared haunting memories from eight decades ago with an audience as he was honored by the South Bay Quilters Guild last weekend at the American Legion in Redondo Beach. The quilters presented him a quilt decorated in red, white and blue, along with American flags and the words “God Bless America.”

“I only wish my wife were here to see this,” Eskenazi said. “She just passed in June. I loved her so much.”

Eskenazi is one of a rare breed these days, one of the remaining survivors of the “day that will live in infamy.” There is no official list of Pearl Harbor survivors, but it’s clear with each year that passes, the number is dwindling.

On that morning in 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base. Nearly 20 American naval vessels were damaged or destroyed, along with eight battleships and more than 300 planes, according to historical reports. During the attack, more than 2,400 Americans died, including civilians, and another 1,000 were wounded.

The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

For Eskenazi, at the time of the attack, it was initially unclear at first if there had been an assault. Another soldier convinced Eskenazi that all the activity may just be naval maneuvers. But when the men stepped outside, there was no mistaking that an attack was underway.

“I look up, and I see a Zero (aircraft) flying over my head. He was flying so low that I think I could see his goggles,” Eskenazi recalled. “I said, ‘Oh my God. That’s a Zero fighter going by us,’ and then I saw bombs drop.”

The bombs, however, did not detonate.

Eskenazi grabbed his M1 Garand rifle and some ammo and jumped in a truck with other soldiers, driving 20 miles to get a glimpse of the attack’s aftermath.

Soon after, Eskenazi’s captain asked for volunteers.

Eskenazi’s hand shot up. He looked around to find his was the only hand raised.

Eskenazi’s captain gave him orders to take a bulldozer across Hickam Field, the principal army airfield adjacent to Pearl Harbor. The bulldozer was needed to move the planes that were on the other side of the field in the event aircraft needed to land.

“I’m crossing the runway. I see it. I see a Zero fighter following the path of the runway but way out there in the distance,” Eskenazi said. “Actually, I saw just a little black dot in the sky, and then it started getting closer. I got my rifle.”

He fired and lost sight of the Zero fighter. Moments later, “I started to see the dirt kicking up only three feet away from the door.”

Thankfully, the gunfire ceased.

“I thought we were almost dead and thought, ‘The Lord saved me again’ … I’m thankful for the God that we believe in and that He controls everything that happens to humans,” Eskenazi said.

Ed Candioty, 70, who attended Sunday’s event, has known Eskenazi his entire life and considers him an uncle.

“He’s the sweetest, warmest, kindest man you’ve ever met,” Candioty said. “He taught me how to sail. He’s the one who first took me out on the ocean to learn how to sail.”

As he’s gotten older, Candioty has come to appreciate Eskenazi’s stories.

“He can recount them (the stories) bullet for bullet, minute by minute, name by name,” Candioty said. “I mean, it’s incredible that somebody 103, almost 104 years old, can retell a story like it happened yesterday.”

Eskenazi’s granddaughter, Marcella Mastrangelo, said her grandfather’s mind is the result of his curious, engineering nature.

“He’s so old. Right? But he’s such a kid at heart,” she said. “He can use an iPhone. He loves a challenge. He loves to learn. I think that’s why he stayed so young and healthy because he keeps up like every day’s a new day.”

Eskenazi was born in 1918 in New York City after his family immigrated to the United States from Turkey.

“In 1911, his grandfather didn’t want to be drafted into the Turkish Army,” retired lieutenant colonel Dan Massey said of Eskenazi at Sunday’s quilt presentation. “He left with the family and went to America.”

His family, though, originally hailed from Spain.

When Eskenazi was 4 years old, his family moved to Puebla, Mexico. He remained in Mexico until he decided to travel back to New York City in 1936. He enlisted in the Army in 1938 at Fort MacArthur at the age of 20.

In September 1941, he was sent orders to report to Schofield Barracks just three months before the attacks on Pearl Harbor. He served in the U.S. Army as a private first-class in the C-Company, 804th Engineers for the duration of World War II. After six years of active duty, he decided to conclude his time with the military and was discharged in 1945. He was ultimately awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic—Pacific Campaign Medal, Pearl Harbor Survivor’s Medal and the Combat Medal with Cluster.

Following the war, Eskenazi traveled back to Mexico, where he met his wife, Victoria Faradji. The two married in 1947, came to California and settled in Redondo Beach. They have one daughter, Belinda Mastrangelo, three grandchildren — Raquel Mastrangelo Nassif, Marcella Mastrangelo and Mike Mastrangelo — and two great grandchildren.

Eskenazi went on to work for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works and later at LAX. He retired as the head of engineering at the drafting department at the age of 61 in 1979.

“Instead of looking for work, I decided I wanted to do what I’ve always wanted to do — travel as much as I can and visit as much of the world as I can,” Eskenazi said. “The only part of the world that I didn’t go to was in the East.”

Eskenazi and Victoria traveled the world together, visiting Canada, England, Italy, Brazil, Israel, Turkey and beyond. The couple was married for 74 years.

“He’s just in love with my grandmother, who just passed away in June,” his granddaughter Marcella Mastrangelo said. “They were just the cutest couple. They were inseparable. Inseparable.”

Eskenazi said he has no sage advice.

“I’m not wise, but all I can say is I hate war, and I hate what happens to people,” he said. “I don’t care who they are or what they are, as long as they’re humans we shouldn’t be attacking one another. Instead, be a nice person; be a good person.”

Joe Eskenazi poses for a photo on Nov. 28 at the American Legion in Redondo Beach, where he shared memories from the attack on Pearl Harbor with an audience as he was honored by the South Bay Quilters Guild with a quilt decorated in red, white and blue and the words “God Bless America.” Eskenazi, 103, said he was touched by the tribute but wished that his wife, Victoria, who died in June, could have been there, too.