MARSHALL, Texas — EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally published in December 2016 on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Hollingshead died the same month.
Cecil Hollingshead had a front-row seat to an event that launched the nation into a world war.
Hollingshead, 96, of Marshall was a U.S. Navy ordnanceman on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese airplanes attacked the Naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. And while more than 2,400 Americans were killed, he says he sustained only “scrapes” from machine gun strafing — although one bullet was deflected by his metal belt buckle.
Today, Hollingshead returns to Pearl Harbor to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack that spurred the United States to join World War II.
Read more from our CBS19 paper partner, Longview News-Journal.
