On Dec. 6, 1941, two Marines had only a good movie on their minds

The Charlotte Observer ^ | December 22, 2002 | Mary Canrobert

[AFA-Michigan]

The one who came back honors
the one who never returned home

HICKORY, N.C. -- In the fall of 1941, 19-year-old Marine Pvt. Jimmy Glenn and 17-year-old Marine Pvt. Robert Peak were stationed at Pearl Harbor. They had become good friends during basic training.

On Dec. 6, 1941, Glenn and Peak went to the movies in Honolulu. The next morning, Peak was killed when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He was aboard the USS Oklahoma, which sank during the attack.

A few weeks ago, Glenn visited Peak's gravesite in the Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific. Glenn and his wife, Johnnie, had traveled from their Hickory home to Hawaii for the annual Dec. 7 memorial service on board the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

Glenn was a guest of Rear Adm. Robert Conway Jr., whose official title reads, "Commander, Navy Region Hawaii/Commander, Naval Surface Group, Middle Pacific."

During the service, Glenn and his son, Gary Glenn of Michigan, met Steve Laws, whose nametag indicated that he was from North Carolina. Gary asked Laws what part of North Carolina he was from. "Hickory," answered Laws. Another "small world" story.

Laws is national commander of the Sons of the American Legion. His group was one of 30 organizations represented at the memorial service by one or two people who threw flowers into the well, an opening in the floor of the USS Arizona Memorial, which rests above the location of the submerged Arizona.

"When you walk up to that well and throw the flowers in, knowing that there are still a lot of men that went down with that ship, it gives you an overwhelming feeling," said Laws.

"There are over 1,100 men entombed in the (USS Arizona)," added Glenn.

Glenn and Laws got together the other day to share their impressions of the service. Glenn also shared his memories of Dec. 7, 1941.

Glenn had just gone on guard duty that morning, "in pressed khakis and spit-shined shoes and carrying empty rifles," he said. He and his companions hadn't been to the guardhouse yet to pick up the 15 rounds of ammunition they carried during guard duty.

While standing in the street, a plane went over. Glenn's sergeant, who'd served in China, looked up and hollered, "Let's go, leathernecks! It's the Japs!" Glenn and the others raced to the guardhouse, grabbed their ammunition, ran back out into the street and started shooting at the planes. "With World War I Springfield rifles," Glenn pointed out.

"There was no one around with a key to the armory," recalled Glenn. "Someone drove a pickup truck into the armory door to knock it down." Glenn said they spread ammunition in the streets, and "everybody grabbed it."

Glenn was not hurt during the two-hour attack.

"We were between Hickam Field (an Army air base at the time) and the docks," said Glenn. "(The Japanese pilots) didn't pay much attention to us. They concentrated on the ships and airplanes."

Later, Glenn's unit received a presidential unit citation for downing a Japanese aircraft with rifle fire.

Glenn said he'd always wanted to go to the memorial service. His son, Gary, arranged it. Gary and his wife, Annette, accompanied Jimmy and Johnnie Glenn on the trip.

"There were less than 20 Pearl Harbor survivors there this year," explained Jimmy Glenn. "I'm 80, and I'm one of the younger ones."