Howard Trotno, a U.S. Navy Pearl Harbor survivor, will serve as the grand marshal in the Fourth of July parade in Watsonville. (First photo by Tarmo Hannula, other photos contributed)

Pearl Harbor survivor Howard Trotno didn’t know he had been chosen to be grand marshal of this year’s Fourth of July parade until this Register-Pajaronian reporter inadvertently broke the news to him. His friend Jim Hagen was going to tell him the news during an annual meeting of World War II survivors on Saturday.

His reaction when he found out was less than enthusiastic.

“Oh, boy,” he said. “This stuff is too much for me. I’m going to have to take a vacation.”

Trotno lives in a small, older, cottage-like house nestled among the newer homes the Bay Village senior community. Hanging on the wall near the door is a framed display of the medals he earned while serving in the U.S. Army from 1936-38, and in the U.S. Navy from 1938-45.

Trotno, 92, was an engine man on board the USS Hulbert, a Navy destroyer that was moored at Pearl Harbor’s Submarine Base. Just before breakfast at 8 a.m., Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese bombers conducted a surprise raid on the harbor.

Trotno and a friend grabbed Lewis machine guns and ran to the deck to shoot at the invaders. In the confusion, Trotno wasn’t sure if he hit any of them. As he tried to fight, he saw the USS Arizona sink.

“I looked up in the sky and I could see a lot of silver things coming down,” he said, talking about the falling bombs. “There was nowhere to run.”

The bombs missed Trotno’s ship because the bombers were targeting larger ships, he said. Still, Trotno said he looked out to see burning oil from the destroyed ships on the surface of the water, and crews of men working to retrieve the floating dead bodies.

When asked if he was scared, Trotno simply chuckled.

“I call that my resurrection day,” he said.

The attack was the only time Trotno fired a gun.

“The rest of the time, I was in the engine room,” he said.

Trotno said he has been back to Pearl Harbor twice.

“I felt sick when I visited the (USS) Arizona and read the names of the 1,000 men who died,” he said.

Trotno saw his share of action. He was serving aboard the USS Lexington when it was hit by a torpedo in 1943, and later when it was attacked by a kamikaze fighter in 1944. Aboard the Lexington, he saw more than 40 battles from Hong Kong to Makin to Manila, Philippines. He was aboard the Hulbert in Tokyo Bay during the 1945 Japanese surrender.

As a Navy man earning $21 per month, he said he once spent an entire year at sea, and docked only a few times.

“I didn’t know where I was half the time, because I was down below,” he said.

Trotno is quick to dismiss suggestions that his time in the military makes him a hero, responding, “A hero is a sandwich.”

“I think I came out all right,” he said. “I’m still here. I’m very lucky. I had good times and bad times.”

Trotno lived most of his life in Long Island, N.Y., and moved to Watsonville 10 years ago.

In a time when some reports state that WWII survivors are dying at a rate of 1,000 per day, their stories are being collected by the Library of Congress. Trotno isn’t sure if there are any other Pearl Harbor survivors remaining in the area.

“We used to have reunions, but everybody’s going down, and we don’t do that anymore,” he said. “I’m lucky to be here.”



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