Family of Las Cruces Pearl Harbor survivor reflects on “Day of Infamy”

A Las Cruces family is remembering their father’s heroic actions on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Donald Pittman, 92, grew up in Kansas City and joined the U.S. Navy when he was 17.

Pittman now lives in Las Cruces. He was unable to speak with ABC-7 Wednesday because he was feeling ill. His daughter, Joyce Shakal, shared her father’s stories with ABC-7.

Pittman came aboard the U.S.S Honolulu in 1941 and had just gotten into Pearl Harbor the day before the attack.

“When the attack first started, they thought it was an exercise,” Shakal said. “When the Arizona was hit, they realized it was not an exercise.”

Shakal says her father became a lookout for enemy aircraft. She says while aboard the U.S.S Honolulu, a bomb blew straight through a concrete pier and exploded right between the pier and lower part of the ship.

“They felt it was God’s blessing that they did not go up,” Shakal said.

Shakal says Pittman was tasked with pulling bodies off the shore, adding her father is humble and doesn’t think of himself as a hero.

“To this day, this is a very difficult day for him,” Shakal said. “What he says is, he’s not a hero. The heroes are the ones who died that day.”