Pearl Harbor survivor recalls look, feel of attack

Published 6:16 am Tuesday, February 26, 2008

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Shrapnel and sniper were not words in June Riggs’ vocabulary before Dec. 7, 1941, the Mountlake Terrace resident said.

Even if she had known the definition of these words, they would have taken on a new meaning for her on this famous date in history — the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“I was like a soldier,” Riggs said about the surprise attack. “I had to take the shots.”

Riggs, 82, was 20 years old when she was stationed on the island of Oahu during the Pearl Harbor attack. Employed as a file clerk for the civil service, she lived and worked near Wheeler Field, one of the airfields that protected Pearl Harbor. Just like the American soldiers on the island, Riggs found herself in the line of fire.

The air strike began at 7:55 a.m. on what Riggs describes as a sleepy Sunday morning on the island. Riggs, an early riser, was already awake when the residents of the island found themselves immersed in chaos.

“I ran out with the others, which was when I saw a rear machine gunner,” Riggs said. “I saw him clench his teeth. Everyone else said they could see their eyes, they were so low.”

Riggs’ brother, who served in army intelligence and was with her at the time of the attack, told her to go in the ditches for safety. Riggs, however, decided to help a young woman and her baby, who were both crying.

“As long as you could help people, you weren’t scared for your life,” Riggs said.

The Japanese had five aircraft carriers, Riggs said, which came one wave after another. The third wave was stopped, however, which prevented the Japanese from occupying Oahu.

“It was like God reached his hand down and said ‘Now you can stop,’ ” Riggs said. “They could have easily taken us.”

After war was officially declared the next day, Riggs and the other women had to go into foxholes for safety in case of a second attack.

Riggs had only been on Oahu for a couple of weeks before the Pearl Harbor attack, having arrived on the island Thanksgiving Day, 1941. She stayed on at Wheeler Field for a total of six months, and said after the attack there was barbed wire surrounding the beach and the ocean was off limits.

“It was very scary for months,” Riggs said. “There was no swimming on the beach. That was not normal.”

In the first letter she sent home after the attack, to Springdale, Wash., where she was born, Riggs attempted to joke about the situation to her parents. “Are you glad I’m at peace and not in pieces?” she wrote. She said she knew her parents would be OK if she joked.

Her parents, however, were still very concerned about their daughter’s welfare, which prompted Riggs to come home in May 1942, despite the fact that she enjoyed her job.

Riggs has lived in Mountlake Terrace since 1954 and has five children, 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. She served two terms on the Edmonds School Board, after first being elected in 1989.

She hopes people remember Pearl Harbor in light of the Sept. 11 attack, and honor both days without blaming the government.

“Don’t trivialize it,” Riggs said. “It is a day to remember those who died and those who survived.”

Riggs has spoken at local schools about her Pearl Harbor experience and plans to write a book in remembrance of the day.