SIKESTON -- World War II veteran Bill Scarbrough knows exactly what he was doing 75 years ago today when he learned of the attack at the American naval base at Pearl Harbor base near Honolulu.
"It was on a Sunday afternoon and I was driving, coming down to Sikeston to pick up my wife now -- Wanda Lee Nelson -- but she was my girlfriend then," the Sikeston man recalled. "She lived in Sikeston and I lived in Blodgett, and I heard it on my car radio."
Just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Within two hours, the Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships and more than 300 airplanes.
More than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded.
Scarbrough said he didn't give too much thought about the news because he hadn't reached 18 yet; he was just 17.
"You'd just never heard of anything like that before," he said. "On that day, everybody then was talking about and concerned about it, but I didn't give it much thought. I don't know that I even figured I might end up in there. At the time, you didn't know what it would mean and war hadn't been declared."
The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan; Congress approved his declaration with just one dissenting vote.
Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, and again Congress reciprocated. More than two years into the conflict, America finally joined World War II.
"I had a cousin who was on the USS Arizona, and he was one of the few who survived," Scarbrough said, adding his cousin is no longer living today.
Less than two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Scarbrough found himself right in the middle of the action.
In May 1943, at 18, Scarbrough was drafted into the Army, and within a week, he was in Texas for basic training. When asked if it was hard to pick up and leave so quickly, Scarborough shrugged.
"Everybody else was doing it," he said. "I didn't volunteer for the draft, but I would've felt left out if I hadn't gone because everybody else was. All my friends were being drafted."
After completing his basic training in Texas, Scarbrough had a six-day leave. During that time, he and his wife married on Oct. 5, 1943.
"I didn't realize I was on my way overseas, but I was," he said.
It would be two years before Scarbrough returned home.
A member of the Texas Army National Guard's 36th Infantry Division, Scarbrough was part of the Italian campaign of World War II.
"I went from Norfolk, Va., to Africa, and across the Strait of Gibraltar," Scarborough recalled. "... Then we pulled back and did invasion training and went up the coast and came into southern France."
At the end of the war, Scarbrough and his group were in Munich. He returned home in December 1945.
Scarbrough's missions included crossing the Rapido River -- which is deemed as on of the greatest tragedies of World War II -- and climbing Monte Cassino near Rome, Italy.
"The Rapido River was one of the worst battles I was ever in," Scarbrough said. "We tried to cross the river. We did get across the first night and then we got pushed back. Then the next afternoon they were having us move out in broad daylight to go up and we didn't have a bridge to get across. The defense was so strong, they zeroed it in with mortar fire and artillery."
Scarbrough and his group didn't make it the second night. They ended up pulling back, he said.
"They had their defenses," he said. "They'd been there. ... One of the worst places to try to deal with in combat is river crossings because that's a good line to set up defense on. It was flat country over there, but the river was so swift. ... Then, it was swift and deadly."
Of the 4,000 men who made the attack, less than half survived.
Scarbrough was also in the infantry during the bombing by Germany of the monastery at Monte Cassino.
"We moved up that mountain after Rapido River. There was only a little trail to go up Monte Cassino," he said.
The only way they got their rations to the top was by mule train.
"Guys were holding on to the tail of the mule in front of them to help pull them up the trail," Scarbrough said. "... The night we climbed, we got up there about midnight. About 2 a.m., they hit us with a counter attack and that lasted until about 10 a.m. the next morning. We stayed in a defensive position there for couple days."
During that time, Scarborough said his feet were frozen and he had to stay in the hospital for a while. He also endured battles at Salerno and Anzio.
Scarbrough wound up making a career out of the military. What was unique about his situation, he pointed out, was he joined as a private and then later served as a commissioned officer in the same company.
"I was in infantry for 19 years and the last 10 years I was in the Corps of Engineers," Scarbrough said, adding he retired as a colonel with 31 years and 9 months of service.
His last 12 years were served in the Washington, D.C., area.
"I was at the Pentagon for five and a half years and at the Army Personnel Center for seven years," he recalled.
Afterward, Scarbrough got a job with some of the government contractors. He took a two-year position at Fort McPherson, Ga., to the U.S. Army Forces Command,
"That two-year contract turned into 30 years," Scarbrough said.
He retired at 87 years old in 2012. He and his wife moved to Sikeston, where they built a house in 1997.
Throughout his service Scarbrough earned the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, Bronze Star with clusters, and he earned his way through every rank, retiring as a colonel in 1982.
Scarbrough even earned a medal for his service as recent as 2014. It came through the French Embassy office in Chicago. By mail, he received the Knight of the Legion of Honor medal. Created by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honor is the highest honor that France bestows upon those who have achieved remarkable deeds for France, according to the letter to Scarbrough dated Nov. 10, 2014.
When asked what today's generation should remember about Pearl Harbor, Scarbrough said those times were rough.
"Even times leading up to that were rough," the veteran recalled. "This country has made more progress since World War II than any other time in history. Before then, I was raised in Blodgett on a farm, and we didn't have very much. We had plenty to eat on the farm, but we had pretty tough times."
He continued: "I think if they need to think about anything, they need to be ready to not demonstrate, but do something worthwhile and try to be prepared to defend our country against anything like that ever happening again. It's kind of hard to do, but we can be prepared and be ready for it."
With intelligence like it is now, and with more sophisticated equipment and communications, officials can have a good indication of their surroundings, Scarbrough said. Enemies should have a hard time sneaking up on the U.S., he said.
"The Japanese were pretty smart. They attacked on a Sunday morning. You could guess with that being a Saturday night, they had all probably been partying and were still sleeping in on Sunday morning (at the time of the attacks)," Scarbrough said. "Those planes came in from behind the mountains and when they cleared, they were already dropping the bombs."
Today's youth need to be more concerned about preparing for their lives when they're older, he said.
"They're used to having what they want when they want it. The way we had it, we had to save up," Scarbrough said. "They need to be really concerned about their country, give it some thought and be ready to do whatever is necessary to if it's required of them."