Dec 7, 2016 5 min read

Editor’s note: This article originally published Thursday, December 8, 2005.

CANONSBURG – When 19-year-old Oliver West awakened shortly before 8 a.m. at the U.S. Army’s Scoffield Barracks on a sunny Sunday Hawaiian morning 64 years ago, he remembered he had a cold pitcher of beer in a cooler from a party the night before.

West, of Charleroi, got the beer and went outside to have an early morning drink. He saw smoke and heard noises coming from the direction of Pearl Harbor, about 10 miles away, but he thought the military was conducting maneuvers that day – Dec. 7, 1941.

Suddenly, West said he saw Japanese planes painted with bright red rising suns flying low over the crest of nearby mountains. He heard bullets flying and saw another serviceman, a cook, grab his leg and fall to the ground. When West witnessed dirt flying up from bullets fired from the planes, reality set in and he ran back into the barracks.

West’s peaceful morning drink ended as he witnessed the start of the United States’ involvement in World War II. When asked what happened to the beer, West said, “I went out later and got it and finished it.”

West, now 83, and a group of other veterans gathered Wednesday to remember the 64th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 191 in Canonsburg. West was the only survivor of the Pearl Harbor attacks from Washington County well enough to attend.

Other survivors include Ross Kuhn of Roscoe, Paul Gavelic of Finleyville, Edward Spitek Sr. of Burgettstown, Lloyd Laughlin of McDonald and Lawrence Keris of Washington. The group honored the late John Konyk of Library.

After a brief flag ceremony, the group of war veterans listened as Canonsburg Mayor Tony Colaizzo read a first-hand account of a young enlisted man who endured the bombing at Pearl Harbor. Colaizzo told of how the Japanese later bombed the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand and several small Pacific islands.

Edward Snarey, originally from Canonsburg and now of Bridgeville, said he was living in “Philly Patch” in the eastern end of Canonsburg when he heard the news. He was 15 and later was drafted into the U.S. Army at age 18.

“One of my parents told me,” Snarey said as he sat with a group of his fellow war veterans Tuesday at the VFW social hall. “It was kind of a shock.”

He also remembers President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous speech Dec. 8 asking Congress to declare war. Snarey was one of five brothers to fight in the war. They all survived, although he is the only one alive today.

Herman Bell of Canonsburg was 20 years old when he heard about Pearl Harbor on the radio. He tried to join the military with three friends, but he was the only one to pass the physical. He opted not to join and was drafted two years later, eventually serving in the U.S. Army in the Pacific in a tank-destroying outfit.

For West, remembering Pearl Harbor is important. He forged his parents’ names on a military form and joined the Army when he was 17. And history does repeat: his son, Oliver B. West Jr., joined the service when he was 17 and served two tours in Vietnam. His grandson, Brett Johnson, joined the military at age 17 and fought in Iraq.

For the eldest West, Pearl Harbor and the bombing at Scoffield were the start of a long tour. He didn’t return home to Charleroi until 41Ú2 years later after participating in some of the war’s bloodiest battles in the South Pacific theater.

“I’ve always wondered how I got through it,” West said of the six major battles in which he participated. “I guess I picked out the biggest man ahead of me and stood behind him.”

Luck is still on West’s side. He smokes about a pack of cigarettes a day, a habit he’s had for 73 years. He walks ramrod straight, although bypass surgery slowed him some. And his mind is sharp.

And something good did come out of the war for West. As he fought in the Pacific, his mother placed his name and address in a local paper and asked for people to write to him.

Young Eleanor Gail Gregg from Daisytown became his pen pal. Over the course of 41Ú2 years and countless letters, the pair fell in love without ever meeting. He carried her picture in his wallet. She became friends with his family.

When West stepped off the train in Pittsburgh after the war, Gail Gregg was waiting. Eighteen days later, they were married by West’s minister father who announced the marriage wouldn’t last.

The couple had five children as West worked as a crane operator in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. Now there are 10 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and another on the way.

The couple was married for 48 years until Gail Gregg West died in 1993.

Twelve years after her death and 64 years after Pearl Harbor, Oliver West is still in love with the woman who was his wartime pen pal.

Oliver West died Tuesday, August 15, 2006.