It's been 75 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor, but for Tampa Bay area resident George Kondas, it feels like it was yesterday.

  • Pearl Harbor survivor reflects on 75th anniversary of attack
  • George Kondas was 20 on Dec. 7, 1941
  • Kondas is 1 of few remaining survivors, 2-time cancer survivor

"It’s something I will never forget,” Kondas said. “It’s just implanted back here. I can see it exactly today as it was."

Dozens gathered at Veterans Memorial Park and Museum in Hillsborough County on Wednesday for a Pearl Harbor remembrance ceremony.

Kondas is one of the remaining Pearl Harbor survivors and a two-time cancer survivor. Kondas was just 20 years old when the alarms sounded at Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan attacked the U.S. in a surprise strike on the Navy base in Hawaii. More than 2,400 personnel were killed and almost 1,200 wounded.The attack brought the U.S. into World War II.

“That alarm means get to your battle stations as quick and fast as possible,” the 95-year-old Kondas said.

He saw planes flying overhead and thought they were dropping sacks of flour for a training mission.

He quickly realized it wasn't a drill. 

Kondas remembers more than 350 planes coming in from every direction, ships burning, the sinking of the USS Arizona, the USS Oklahoma turning over and the sheer chaos of the day. 

"Here comes planes coming out of every direction at different heights from here, here, here, back here,” Kondas said.

When it was all over, Kondas said it was chaos. 

"It was sickening,” he said. “You could see bodies floating in the water and oil burning all around them and all over the place.”

Kondas built mines for the Navy during World War II and was on the island of Okinawa in Japan when the war ended. 

He’s been married for more than 70 years, has four children and became a firefighter. But, his time at war wasn’t over as Kondas found himself fighting a different enemy: cancer. 

Doctors removed one of his lungs because they weren’t sure how far the cancer had spread. After winning the battle against lung cancer, doctors at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa diagnosed him with prostate cancer. Again he fought with bravery and beat the disease.

Not only is he one of the last remaining Pearl Harbor survivors, but he is a two-time cancer survivor. He is a hero, an inspiration and a reminder to never give up hope as America remembers the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

Today, Kondas helped pay tribute to the thousands who lost their lives. He said he’s lucky to have survived.

Instead of a thank you, he just wants others to promise to never forget.