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In August 1941, Bill Jarvis' uncle signed a letter giving permission for the 17-year-old to enlist in the U.S. Navy. The teenager could not have known that he would soon become an eyewitness to some of World War II's most pivotal events — beginning with the "Day of Infamy."

Photo by Julie Dockstader Heaps

Bill Jarvis, then 17, was an eyewitness to some of World War II's most pivotal events beginning with the "Day of Infamy."

On that day, Dec. 7, 1941, more than 2,400 men lost their lives when the naval and air forces of Japan attacked U.S. Naval and Army forces on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Of the 21 ships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor, eight were the pride of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the battleships. One of those battle wagons, the USS Arizona, still rests in the harbor at her anchor, a memorial rising over her now-decaying hull. Seventy years after an explosion ripped open her bow, oil still rises to the surface at the rate of two to nine quarts per day. Tourists visit the site daily, American and Japanese standing side by side, many tossing flower leis in honor of those still entombed below. (Please see www.nps.gov.)

That calm, sunny Sunday morning in 1941 marked the entrance of the United States into World War II, altering the lives of people throughout the nation, including members of the Church. Latter-day Saints served in all branches of the service. (This week the Church News shares the accounts of three members and their memories of Pearl Harbor.)

Bill Jarvis was about three weeks shy of his 18th birthday when he arrived at Pearl Harbor in late November 1941. Recounting his memories of those days 70 years ago, Brother Jarvis, now nearly 88, sat in the living room in his little white home in the Kearns 4th Ward, Kearns Utah East Stake. A bedroom holds memorabilia from his U.S. Navy career, including a shadow box filled with medals. One medal is a gold medallion on a gold chain given solely to survivors of Pearl Harbor.

Photo by Julie Dockstader Heaps

He recalled how, upon reaching Honolulu, he was sent to Fleet Landing where he stayed temporarily in a barracks. His ship, the carrier USS Enterprise, was out to sea. No carriers were in port on Dec. 7.

Courtesy Bill Jarvis family

Bill Jarvis, who enlisted in the Navy at age 17, was an eyewitness to some of World War II's most pivotal events.

On the warm evening of Dec. 6, the young man from Salt Lake City was just excited to be in Hawaii, and especially for the next day — his first "liberty," or day off, since training at San Diego, Calif. The next morning, he and his buddy, "Hemby," as Brother Jarvis called him, were in their dress whites and standing near a large window looking toward "Battleship Row" by Ford Island.

"We were looking at partly between us and Ford Island. All of a sudden these planes started down through there. Hemby said, 'Look there, they are having fleet operations today. They weren't to start until tomorrow.'

"All of a sudden a ship blows up. That plane that dropped that torpedo was so close I could have reached out and shook that pilot's hand."

That explosion was the first of several torpedoes to strike the USS Oklahoma. Within minutes, the "Okie," as she was called, would roll over, trapping some 400 men below decks. But all Brother Jarvis knew in those early moments was his building was being strafed. He ran downstairs and outside.

"I ran into an old [petty officer] down there and he said, 'Come on with me. I've got a job for you,' " he recalled.

The two jumped in a nearby whaleboat and piloted the craft into the open harbor. While under fire, the two began pulling in sailors and marines from the waters around burning ships. Some were wounded and burned, so Brother Jarvis jumped in and helped push them into the boat. As soon as they had a full boat, they'd head to shore and then come back for more.

During one of those trips, some 10 to 15 minutes after the attack began, the two rescuers saw "one big flash." It was the Arizona. "She started to roll and they must have hit her with another [bomb] because then she rolled back the other way."

Brother Jarvis didn't have time to contemplate what he had witnessed. In fact, he said the attack was so fierce that after awhile he didn't notice the explosions as they continued to frantically pull wounded and dying men from harbor waters now covered in burning oil. His dress whites were now black.

"I was horrified," he remembered. "You don't think of grown men crying but pulling those guys out of the water, you saw men just sobbing."

Finally, darkness fell that evening. Brother Jarvis said he has no idea how many men he helped pull from the harbor that day. He does remember what many said, however. "Thanks for picking me up."

The next day, Brother Jarvis and others were sent to what today is known as the Punchbowl National Cemetery.

For the next week, he helped bury the bodies of those who died on Dec. 7. He recalled stacks of boxes and a Catholic priest offering the rite of committal, the final ceremony at a graveside.

Returning the following week to the recruiting office, he received stunning news. He had been listed as killed in action and his parents in Salt Lake City had received a telegram from the Navy Department. In the same week, they received another telegram telling them that their older son, Cicle, was missing in action in the Philippines. (Cicle would later die as a prisoner of war.)

"It shocked my mother and dad to no end. My mother fainted," Brother Jarvis recalled. "I said, 'You better tell my mother and dad I'm not dead!' "

The Navy Department sent a follow-up telegram, and Brother Jarvis continued his service aboard the Enterprise and later on other ships. On April 18, 1942, he was standing on the deck of the carrier watching the famous "Doolittle's Raid" lift off the USS Hornet several hundred miles off Japan.

Then, in early June, he was witness to the pivotal battle of World War II in the Pacific — Midway. He recounted manning an anti-aircraft gun on the Enterprise shooting at enemy planes when an attack shredded the splinter shield in front of him. He was unhurt.

Brother Jarvis retired from the Navy in 1967 as a chief petty officer. He served in three wars and had three ships sunk beneath him, including the carrier USS Lexington.

Today, he is soft-spoken and speaks lovingly of his wife, Ella Lorraine, who died in 2006. They were married in 1945 and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in 1957; they reared four children.

He holds no animosity toward anyone who fought against the United States. During the occupation of Japan, he visited the Land of the Rising Sun. "I saw the love and the closeness of the people. It was a terrible tragedy on both sides."