COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Ninety-year-old Walter Himmelberg was 23 years old and in the Army when Pearl Harbor was bombed.

He said from his view up in the hills of Oahu, the scene looked beyond devastating.

"I can just imagine speaking to my buddies who were down at Pearl Harbor, what it must have been like, and all I can say is, thank God I was not there. I do not know how anyone could go though it," Himmelberg said. "From the stories they tell, diving into water that was one solid sheet of flame, being blown off the boat and all kinds of different stuff," Himmelberg said.

He said one of the Japanese bombers came after his unit, showering them with bullets. But, his lieutenant and sergeant were able to shoot down the plane.

"The plane crashed, it blew up, it was carrying bombs and the bombs went off and it threw all of us, all six of us, and unfortunately it threw me into a telephone pole," Himmelberg said.

He said his knee was shattered adding he did not see a doctor for days due to the confusion and chaos surrounding the bombings.

After all was said and done, Himmelberg received a Purple Heart for his injury. He still wears a brace to this day.

But he said that is not what he wants people to remember from that fateful day.

"Be prepared, do not forget it, because it can happen again, and if we are not prepared like we were not that day, God help us!"