"I was reading the newspaper I'd just bought at the kiosk on the wharf, when an airplane buzzed over my head with that big red meatball on its side. I was trained to recognize foreign insignia and knew right away it was Japanese. I telephoned down to the bridge and told the duty officer. He said, 'Ifkin you'll go on report for horsing around,' when BOOM! The first torpedo hit (USS) "Oklahoma". Our guns were down, so a bunch of us climbed over to "New Orleans." It was berthed right next us. We spent the next two hours feeding ammunition to the gunners.