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Veteran Remembers Pearl Harbor Bombing On 70th Anniversary Of Attack

DEARBORN (WWJ) - Pearl Harbor happened on this date, December 7, 70 years ago, but one metro Detroit veteran remembers it like yesterday.

Nate Weiser of Dearborn was a fresh-faced 25-year-old with the Air Force at Pearl Harbor on that fateful Sunday morning in 1941 when the Japanese staged a surprise attack.

He was in line waiting for breakfast when he heard an explosion. He thought the Navy was holding exercises until a bomb went off near his building. Weiser looked out the door to see a Japanese bomber at point-blank range.

"We were running, and let me tell you it was the hardest thing to run from there to Scofield barracks. They were strafing and there were bombing, and we're trying to run and hide behind a building and then run again and hide," he said.

Weiser ran like mad and took cover in a sergeant's residence. Now at age 95, he tells WWJ he still has nightmares about that day.

"He was very, very low and strafing all around and I can see the guy's face. I didn't sleep very well last night, I even saw the guy's face last night," he said.

Weiser said people should take the effort when they see a veteran or soldier to stop and tell them "Thank You."

"I have a license plate on my car that says 'Pearl Harbor survivor,' and many times they'll have a bunch of kids in the car and they'll honk their horn and they'll open the window and they'll holler "Thank You!" God, doesn't that make you feel better? That's what I'm talking about, we take too many things for granted here."

Weiser said no matter where and when veterans served, they still stepped forward to defend their country.

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