Worl War II veteran and one of the few North Texans with a first-hand account of the attack on Pearl Harbor has died at the age of 93.
The Dallas Morning News Joe Simnacher reported that James Hardwick died of natural causes at a Dallas retirement center June 26. His ashes will be placed next to his wife's at Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery
Hardwick, a Dallas native, joined the Navy at the age of 17 in 1940. He was assigned to the U.S.S Honolulu and arrived at Pearl Harbor on Nov. 19, 1941.
Remembering Pearl Harbor Attack
Less than three weeks after arriving in Hawaii, Hardwick was on a beach when he heard about an attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7. He had just celebrated his 18th birthday.
"We didn't know what the hell was going on. We heard the explosions," he recalled. "I saw the Arizona going down, the California, the Oklahoma and West Virginia and all of Battleship Row. It was surreal. Bodies floating in the water."
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More than 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded that day, and the surprise attack led to America entering World War II. Hardwick's ship, the Honolulu, was hit with a 500-pound bomb, but remarkably no one died.
"I thought I couldn't be farther away from the war than Pearl Harbor, Hawaii," he said.
Hardwick received a medal for his actions at Pearl Harbor and dozens of other medals for his service.
