PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The story of one of our local heroes who witnessed "a date which will live in infamy" is now being preserved through a new documentary airing across the country.
WATCH BELOW: Pearl Harbor survivor's story preserved in new PBS documentary
Harry Chandler of Tequesta passed away in January at 103 years old. He served as a Navy Corpsman in Hawaii in 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
WPTV anchor and Navy veteran Mike Trim connected with Chandler several times before his passing, where he shared his firsthand experience of the attack in 1941.
"It was hard. You know, you’re pulling the guys out of the water, they were just floating. The Arizona, watching the Arizona blow up, that will never leave my mind. Never,” Chandler told Trim in a November 2023 interview.
Now, the World War II Foundation is telling Chandler's story through a documentary on PBS called "Corpsman! Pearl Harbor."
Narrated by Jim Nantz, the documentary features interviews with Chandler, preserving his eyewitness testimony for future generations.
Tim Gray, director of the World War II Foundation, described the profound impact Chandler's memories had on everyone involved in the project.
"He just held on to those memories; it just affected him 80 years later to the point where he would still sob about what he saw. I mean, what he saw was just history in the making," Gray said.
You can watch "Corpsman! Pearl Harbor" here.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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