I got to talk to a Pearl Harbor survivor in the early 1990’s. I was working at one of my dad’s construction sites during my wastrel days. An elderly gentleman with a cane walked up to see the progress, and struck up a conversation with me.
Turns out he was a machinist mate on the U.S.S. Vestal; the repair ship tied up next to the Arizona during the attack. Deep in the hull, his main memories of the attack were the hits meant for Arizona and the explosion.
Having survived the attack, he was posted to the Fletcher-class destroyer U.S.S. Haggard. During Okinawa, he was temporarily posted to the rudder area, when the machinery spaces, his regular duty station, were destroyed by a kamikaze. He was very lucky to be alive.