MARYSVILLE — For most people, the bombing of Pearl Harbor 73 years ago is a historic event, but for World War II veterans such as Marysville’s Art Olsen, it was a defining moment in his life.
Not only did Olsen go on to serve his country overseas in the Army, but he also preserved an artifact of the attack that plunged America into the war.
In 1941, Olsen was living in Chicago, and he saved the front page of the Chicago Daily Tribune from Dec. 8 of that year, reporting that the U.S. was at war.
“That really was the Big One,” Olsen said. “You had everyone from Europe to the Pacific Rim involved, all the way to China and Burma. And it wasn’t just the men. All the women went to work, like Rosie the Riveter. We got through it in three or four years, but we didn’t know back then how long it would last. All you could do was take it one day at a time.”
Olsen joined the service in January of 1943, and his first deployment saw him spending 23 days at sea, between San Francisco and Sydney, Australia.
“We were all alone on the water, with no convoy,” Olsen said. “We cut a zig-zagging course, because submarines back then needed five or six minutes to set up their guns to fire. If you stood at the back of the boat, you could see the captain changing course.”
Olsen’s next deployment was to the New Guinea region of the South Pacific theater. He was still in his late teens when he hit the beachhead on April 22, 1944, which he described as the longest day of his life.
“I was part of a convoy so large that, when you looked in front of you and behind you, all you could see were ships,” Olsen said.
Olsen lamented the lives that were lost, not only during his own war, but in all the wars since, given that he’d hoped that WWII live up to the first World War’s original title as “the war to end all wars.”
“This is the greatest nation on Earth, so I’d still defend it again, but it’s sad that we’ve lost so many,” Olsen said. “There’s a lot of turmoil in our country, but I still appreciate being able to live in such a great land.”
