Pearl Harbor survivor from Taunton recalls attack - Taunton Daily Gazette

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Bernard Creswick was asleep in the barracks at Hickam Field in Hawaii when he heard a commotion outside.

Creswick, then a 19-year-old Taunton native serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps, opened a window and saw a Japanese Navy dive bomber strafing the barracks.

"That's when I knew something was going on, when I saw that Japanese airplane coming in," Creswick, now 92, said Friday during ceremonies aboard the Battleship Massachusetts to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.

The Japanese Imperial Navy bombed and strafed Hickam to prevent U.S. planes from retaliating and following them back to their aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean. Hickam sustained heavy damage and aircraft losses, with 189 people killed and 303 wounded.

Creswick ran out of his barracks and sprinted to a nearby hangar to try to move a B-18 bomber out of the line of fire. He ran across an open field, stopped and grabbed a World War I-era shovel to dig an improvised foxhole.

"I got down, but not very far, because we hit water," Creswick. "So I couldn't even get into the foxhole."

Creswick, a ball-turret gunner on the B-17 "Flying Fortress," survived the Japanese attack and went on to complete 60 missions in the Pacific Theater. He survived one combat mission where his bomber was shot down and landed in water.

"That B-17 was a tough airplane," said Creswick, who was accompanied Friday by Ruby Creswick— his wife of 65 years — and their daughter, Wanda Kennedy.

Creswick, who suffered a stroke 10 years ago and is wheelchair-bound, made it a point to see his brother's name on the Battleship's World War II memorial. Frank R. Creswick was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division when he was killed during combat in Germany. He was 21.

Bernard Creswick's two sisters also served as nurses during World War II. After the war, he met and married his wife, also a Taunton resident, and worked for several years in the federal government. They now live in Warwick, R.I.

Carl Sawejko, president of Battleship Cove, asked Creswick on Friday to make him one promise.

"That you be with us next year," Sawejko said.

"I'll try," Creswick replied.

As hundreds of World War II veterans die every day, the living memory of the "Greatest Generation" fades more and more into the history textbooks with each passing year. Sawejko said preserving their stories and remembering their sacrifices remains as important as ever.

"It is only because of those who came before us, who gave the ultimate sacrifice, that we are able to enjoy the liberties, the luxuries, the freedoms today," Sawejko said. "Freedom isn't free."

Friday's ceremony also included a wreath-tossing from the deck of the Battleship to honor the 2,386 who were killed and 1,139 wounded in the Pearl Harbor attack.

The ceremony also included remarks from Brad King, executive director of Battleship Cove, and U.S. Navy Capt. William Nault, the chief of staff at the U.S. Naval War College.

"We recognize the honor of every one of our veterans," Nault said, "But there will always be a special place in our hearts for those who began the fight at Pearl Harbor that lead us to victory."

Email Brian Fraga at bfraga@heraldnews.com.