Seventy-two years ago today, the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by the Japanese, resulting in the deaths of 2,400 Americans and the destruction of 20 ships and 200 airplanes.

The surprise attack is widely remembered as being the catalyst to draw America into World War II, which had already been raging in Europe for two years by then. 

Scores of Mainers were among the troops who stepped up to defend the country after the attack and today we share some of their memories of that time from a few York County veterans. See the print edition for the full version of each story.

GERARD CORMIER

SANFORD — Gerard Cormier was on the deck of the aircraft carrier Hancock in the Pacific Ocean on April 7, 1945, when a Japanese suicide bomber crashed into the deck and its bomb exploded.

Cormier was on the other side of a tower from the crash and was not injured, but 71 others were wounded and 62 men were dead. According to the USS Hancock Association, the Navy men doused the fire caused by the explosion, and the carrier was quickly on its way, within an hour, continuing with the mission.

Cormier, now 89, was in a movie theater in Sanford a few years earlier, on Dec. 7, 1941 when the film was interrupted with the news that the U.S. fleet, stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, had been bombed, with tremendous loss of life. He remembers going home, but nothing more.

And while some memories fade, others linger. Cormier spoke about his service, his faith, and his life before and after Pearl Harbor, in an interview Wednesday.

He grew up in Sanford, in a close-knit, French-speaking neighborhood and attended parochial schools until he realized early on he’d need to learn English to get ahead, and transferred to public school. He came home after the war, and through the G.I. Bill learned his meat cutter’s trade with an uncle who had a store on Errol Street. He went on to establish the meat department at Roger’s Supa Dolla, where he worked for 40 years. ”¦

JIM FLYNN and JOHN MOTT

KENNEBUNK — Before the era in which information was disseminated at warp speed, news spread slowly. When Pearl Harbor was attacked on that fateful December Sunday in 1941, Jim Flynn was walking out of church with his family. A friend came running up behind him, breathlessly relaying word of the event, which would ultimately draw the United States into Word War II.

“I can remember turning to my brother and saying, ”˜What the hell is going on?’” recalled Flynn.

Now a resident at Atria Senior Living in Kennebunk, Flynn was already a Navy man when the attack occurred; he had joined at 17 by lying about his age. He was acquainted with a fellow Navy recruit who had been at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese war planes struck.

“He was sound asleep on the ship when it blew up,” said Flynn. “He was very hesitant to talk about it. You could tell that it affected him very much.

“It affected everybody. For weeks and weeks afterward, people talked about it.”

John Mott, who also lives at Atria, was a three-stripe sergeant in the Army during that time, and was meeting with his adjutant general in Arkansas when the news broke. ”¦

JOHN ‘BENNY’ WOODBURY

SACO — Woodbury was 17 and living in Biddeford when he enlisted in the Navy. He did so with the approval of his mother, which was necessary because of his age.

“I guess I did it because I thought it was the thing to do,” he said in an interview this week at his Saco home.

Woodbury served from 1940-45 as a machinist mate first class. He served on the USS Rhind in the Atlantic Ocean and the USS Philip in the Pacific Ocean.

Woodbury said he was on leave when he heard about the Pearl Harbor attack, watching a movie at the City Theater in Biddeford with Stella, now his wife of 68 years.

Woodbury said it’s hard to visualize the number of people who were killed in that attack.  ”¦

For the full versions of these veterans’ recollections, and an account of a visit to the Pearl Harbor site from Biddeford-Saco Veterans Council chairman Gene Foster, see our Journal Tribune Weekend print edition.